IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/aiw/wpaper/05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unravelling the 'race to the bottom' argument: How does FDI affect different types of labour rights?

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Messerschmidt

    (Hochschule f¸r Politik at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the TUM School of Governance)

  • Nicole Janz

    (School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham)

Abstract

Does foreign direct investment (FDI) lead to better or worse labour standards in developing countries? We argue that it depends on the type of labour right, and how costly it is to protect it. Governments are likely to follow international pressure and 'climb to the top' of improved labour standards, but only for those rights that do not incur direct costs to foreign investors, such as collective bargaining rights. In contrast, governments engage in a 'race to the bottom' when it comes to rights that bear immediate costs for firms, such as overtime pay. To test our argument, we use novel data to distinguish between the legal protection of (1) fair working contracts, (2) adequate working time, (3) dismissal protections, which are more costly; versus (4) collective worker representation, and (5) industrial action rights, which are relatively cheaper to grant. Our panel data analysis for 138 developing countries (1982-2010) shows that higher FDI is indeed connected to an improvement of `cheap' rights, and to a decline in `expensive' rights protection. These results remain robust across a range of model specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Messerschmidt & Nicole Janz, 2020. "Unravelling the 'race to the bottom' argument: How does FDI affect different types of labour rights?," Munich Papers in Political Economy 05, Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:aiw:wpaper:05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cms.mgt.tum.de/fileadmin/mgt.tum.de/faculty_and_research/mppe/05_LRI_Paper_Janz_Messerschmidt_v02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greenhill, Brian & Mosley, Layna & Prakash, Aseem, 2009. "Trade-based Diffusion of Labor Rights: A Panel Study, 1986–2002," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(4), pages 669-690, November.
    2. Davies, Ronald B. & Voy, Annie, 2009. "The effect of FDI on child labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 59-66, January.
    3. Dursun Peksen & Robert G. Blanton, 2017. "The impact of ILO conventions on worker rights: Are empty promises worse than no promises?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 75-94, March.
    4. Neumayer, Eric & de Soysa, Indra, 2005. "Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Child Labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 43-63, January.
    5. Robert G. Blanton & Dursun Peksen, 2019. "Labor Laws and Shadow Economies: A Cross‐National Assessment," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(5), pages 1540-1565, August.
    6. Jacqueline H. R. DeMeritt, 2012. "International Organizations and Government Killing: Does Naming and Shaming Save Lives?," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(5), pages 597-621, November.
    7. Neumayer, Eric & Soysa, Indra de, 2006. "Globalization and the Right to Free Association and Collective Bargaining: An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 31-49, January.
    8. Zhiyuan Wang, 2018. "Economic Competition, Policy Interdependence, and Labour Rights," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 656-673, November.
    9. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2009. "The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization And International Trade Policies, chapter 17, pages 623-687, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Davies, Ronald B. & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2013. "A race to the bottom in labor standards? An empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-14.
    11. Potrafke, Niklas, 2013. "Globalization and labor market institutions: International empirical evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 829-842.
    12. Olney, William W., 2013. "A race to the bottom? Employment protection and foreign direct investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 191-203.
    13. Robert G. Blanton & Shannon L. Blanton, 2012. "Labor Rights and Foreign Direct Investment: Is There a Race to the Bottom?," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 267-294, July.
    14. Kimberly Ann Elliott & Richard B. Freeman, 2003. "Can Labor Standards Improve under Globalization?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 338, January.
    15. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    16. Berliner, Daniel & Greenleaf, Anne & Lake, Milli & Noveck, Jennifer, 2015. "Building Capacity, Building Rights? State Capacity and Labor Rights in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 127-139.
    17. Zoe Adams & Parisa Bastani & Louise Bishop & Simon Deakin, 2017. "The CBR-LRI Dataset: Methods, Properties & Potential of Leximetric Coding of Labour Laws," Working Papers wp489, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    18. Axel Dreher, 2006. "Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1091-1110.
    19. Zoe ADAMS & Louise BISHOP & Simon DEAKIN & Colin FENWICK & Sara MARTINSSON GARZELLI & Giudy RUSCONI, 2019. "The economic significance of laws relating to employment protection and different forms of employment: Analysis of a panel of 117 countries, 1990–2013," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(1), pages 1-35, March.
    20. Lim, Sijeong & Mosley, Layna & Prakash, Aseem, 2015. "Revenue Substitution? How Foreign Aid Inflows Moderate the Effect of Bilateral Trade Pressures on Labor Rights," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 295-309.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Rittmannsberger, Thomas, 2023. "How does the vaccine approval procedure affect COVID-19 vaccination intentions?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Messerschmidt, Luca & Janz, Nicole, 2023. "Unravelling the ‘race to the bottom’ argument: Foreign direct investment and different types of labour rights," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Fangjin Ye, 2020. "The impact of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on collective labor rights in developing countries," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 899-921, October.
    3. Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, 2015. "Rewards of (Dis)Integration," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(1), pages 3-27, January.
    4. Blanton, Robert G. & Blanton, Shannon Lindsey & Peksen, Dursun, 2015. "Financial Crises and Labor: Does Tight Money Loosen Labor Rights?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Dursun Peksen & Robert G. Blanton, 2017. "The impact of ILO conventions on worker rights: Are empty promises worse than no promises?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 75-94, March.
    6. Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati & Artur Tamazian, 2017. "Are Left-Wing Governments Really Pro-Labor? An Empirical Investigation for Latin America," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 129-160, February.
    7. Gerda Van Roozendaal, 2017. "Where Symbolism Prospers: An Analysis of the Impact on Enabling Rights of Labour Standards Provisions in Trade Agreements with South Korea," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 19-29.
    8. Raess, Damian & Wagner, Patrick, 2022. "South to north investment linkages and decent work in Brazil," Papers 1382, World Trade Institute.
    9. Guasti, Alessandro & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias, 2022. "Has global trade competition really led to a race to the bottom in labor standards?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113752, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Berliner, Daniel & Greenleaf, Anne & Lake, Milli & Noveck, Jennifer, 2015. "Building Capacity, Building Rights? State Capacity and Labor Rights in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 127-139.
    11. Jianchun Fang & Giray Gozgor & James H. Nolt, 2022. "Globalisation, economic uncertainty and labour market regulations: Implications for the COVID‐19 crisis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 2165-2187, July.
    12. repec:ilo:ilowps:470016 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Potrafke, Niklas, 2013. "Globalization and labor market institutions: International empirical evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 829-842.
    14. Davies, Ronald B. & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2013. "A race to the bottom in labor standards? An empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "Globalization and social justice in OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(2), pages 353-376, May.
    16. Adolph, Christopher & Quince, Vanessa & Prakash, Aseem, 2017. "The Shanghai Effect: Do Exports to China Affect Labor Practices in Africa?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-18.
    17. Campos, Nauro F. & Eichenauer, Vera Z. & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2020. "Close encounters of the European kind: Economic integration, sectoral heterogeneity and structural reforms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    18. Sara Kahn-Nisser, 2017. "Channels of Influence: The EU and Delta Convergence of Core Labour Standards in the Eastern Neighbourhood," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(1), pages 127-143, January.
    19. Cooray, Arusha & Tamazian, Artur & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2014. "What drives FDI policy liberalization? An empirical investigation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 179-189.
    20. Anindya Bhattacharya & Debapriya Sen, 2021. "Labor policy and multinational firms: The “race to the bottom” revisited," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1515-1537, August.
    21. Patrick Wagner & Damian Raess, 2023. "South to north investment linkages and decent work in Brazil," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(1), pages 122-159, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign direct investment; worker rights; developing countries; cash standards; outcome standards;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • J80 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - General
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • K38 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aiw:wpaper:05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MPPE (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwtumde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.