The Human Liberty Index (HLI) allows you to see what is likely the most impacting pricing variable for shaving products, the freedom of the workers assembling these products. Globalization has normalized the costs of raw materials and the technology required to build shaving products and many other products like them. In almost all cases cheaper products are made in locations with cheaper labor. Often the quality is just as good, the unseen cost is most often the liberty of the workers that made the razor you hold each morning.
Below we will outline the reasons we have decided to continue to sell products from countries that are on the bottom of our Human Liberty Index, and why we prefer that consumers buy products from countries that are in the Top 50 of the HLI.
How is the Human Liberty Index calculated?
The Wet Shaving Club has created a blended index using the data compiled from other similar existing indexes. By using an average of these indices, we can leverage the hard work of other specialized studies, while trying to stay neutral to any specific organization/agenda. The indices currently being averaged (with equal weighting) are below:
- The Human Freedom Index – Cato Institute
- Measures factors such as freedom of religion, freedom of movement, security and safety, freedom of expression and others (Source Here).
- The Democracy Index – The Economist Intelligence Unit
- Measures factors such as the electoral process, pluralism, functioning government, civil liberties and more (Source Here)
Both indices above assign a score to every country based on their own respective categories, and then rank those countries based on the “overall score”. Our index, The Human Liberty Index, takes the average of these sources to provide you more information for your buying decision.