IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mon/ceddtr/123.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Les normes fondamentales du travail contribuent-elles à réduire les inégalités ?

Author

Listed:
  • Rémi Bazillier

    (TEAM – Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne)

  • Nicolas Sirven

    (GED, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV)

Abstract

Cet article propose une investigation empirique des liens qu’entretiennent normes sociales et inégalité de revenus. Dans un premier temps, un indice de normes sociales du travail (travail des enfants, travail forcé, discrimination, liberté syndicale, conventions OIT) est déterminé. Aucun lien n’est trouvé a priori avec l’inégalité. Ceci s’explique par la différence entre la ratification des traités internationaux sur les normes sociales et la mise en place effective de ces normes par les pays signataires. C’est pourquoi, dans un second temps les normes sociales sont endogénéisées au moyen de variables instrumentales. Un nouvel indicateur de normes effectives est obtenu comme un output de l’efficacité du système politique et juridique. Il est en effet plus probable que les pays qui jouissent de meilleures institutions soient plus aptes à mettre en place effectivement des normes sociales. L’endogénéisation des normes sociales permet de mettre en évidence l’existence d’une courbe de Kuznets entre les normes et les inégalités de revenu pour 90 pays sur la période 1990-2001. Les normes sociales sont ainsi mobilisées comme facteur explicatif intermédiaire pour interpréter la courbe de Kuznets. This study empirically investigates the impact of core labour standards on income inequality for a range of 90 countries from 1990 to 2001. We focus on the four core labour standards (prohibition of child labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining, prohibition of discrimination, and prohibition of forced labour) defined by ILO and OECD. The number of ILO conventions ratified is added to the four previous variables with the aim to compute a synthetic index of labour standards by means of a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). This index is then inserted as an independent variable in an econometric model to test for its relationships with the Gini index. No significant correlation is found among the different econometric specifications. One of the reasons pointed out is that there is a difference between norms de jure and de facto. In other words, the exogeneity of the index does not distinguish countries that implement effective social norms from those that just ratify the treaties. We actually assume that the effective implementation of core labour standards depends on the quality of the country’s political and legal systems. The endogeneity bias in the first step models is corrected using instrumental variables in a TSLS model. We found that the relationship between the new endogenous index of core labour standards and income inequality follows a inversed ‘U’ shaped curve. This result let us think of a social Kuznets curve. (Full text in french)

Suggested Citation

  • Rémi Bazillier & Nicolas Sirven, 2006. "Les normes fondamentales du travail contribuent-elles à réduire les inégalités ?," Documents de travail 123, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    • Handle: RePEc:mon:ceddtr:123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chau, Nancy H. & Kanbur, Ravi, 2001. "The Adoption of International Labor Standards Conventions: Who, What, and Why?," Working Papers 127654, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    2. Wood, Adrian, 1997. "Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: The Latin American Challenge to East Asian Conventional Wisdom," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 33-57, January.
    3. Harrison, Ann E & Leamer, Edward, 1997. "Labor Markets in Developing Countries: An Agenda for Research," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García‐Peñalosa, 2010. "Labour Market Institutions and the Personal Distribution of Income in the OECD," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(307), pages 413-450, July.
    5. Rémi Bazillier, 2004. "Core labour standards and economic growth," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla04088, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    6. Matthew Higgins & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1999. "Explaining Inequality the World Round: Cohort Size, Kuznets Curves, andOpenness," NBER Working Papers 7224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Gudrun Biffl & Joseph E. Isaac, 2002. "How Effective are the ILO's Labour Standards under Globalisation?," WIFO Working Papers 178, WIFO.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    9. Squire, Lyn & Suthiwart-Narueput, Sethaput, 1997. "The Impact of Labor Market Regulations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 119-143, January.
    10. César Calderón & Alberto Chong & Rodrigo O. Valdés, 2005. "Labor Market Regulations and Income Inequality: Evidence for a Panel of Countries," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Jorge Restrepo & Andrea Tokman R. & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Series Edi (ed.),Labor Markets and Institutions, edition 1, volume 8, chapter 7, pages 221-279, Central Bank of Chile.
    11. Bourguignon, F. & Morrisson, C., 1990. "Income distribution, development and foreign trade : A cross-sectional analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1113-1132, September.
    12. Michael Greenacre, 2008. "Correspondence analysis of raw data," Economics Working Papers 1112, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jul 2009.
    13. Martin Rama, 2002. "Globalization and Workers in Developing Countries," Economics Study Area Working Papers 41, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    14. Alvaro Forteza & Martín Rama, 2000. "Labor Market "Rigidity" and the Success of Economic Reforms Across more than One Hundred Countries," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0600, Department of Economics - dECON.
    15. Campano, Fred & Salvatore, Dominick, 1988. "Economic development, income inequality and Kuznets' U-shaped hypothesis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 265-280.
    16. Ahluwalia, Montek S., 1976. "Inequality, poverty and development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 307-342, December.
    17. David BESCOND & Anne CHÂTAIGNIER & Farhad MEHRAN, 2003. "Seven indicators to measure decent work: An international comparison," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 142(2), pages 179-212, June.
    18. Alvaro Forteza & Martin Rama, 2006. "Labor Market 'Rigidity' and the Success of Economic Reforms Across More Than 100 Countries," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 75-105.
    19. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea (ed.), 2004. "Inequality, Growth, and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199271412.
    20. repec:idb:brikps:80098 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    22. Kanbur, Ravi & Chau, Nancy H, 2001. "The Adoption of Labour Standards Conventions: Who, When and Why?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2904, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Brown, D.K. & Dearorff, A.V. & Stern, R.M., 1993. "International Labor Standards and Trade: A Theoretical Analysis," Working Papers 333, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    24. Thomas I. Palley, 2005. "Labour standards, democracy and wages: some cross-country evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(7), pages 883-898.
    25. Thomas I. Palley, 2004. "The economic case for international labour standards," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(1), pages 21-36, January.
    26. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S. M. R., 1993. "The Kuznets process and the inequality--development relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 25-52, February.
    27. Maskus, Keith E., 1997. "Should core labor standards be imposed through international trade policy?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1817, The World Bank.
    28. Milanovic, Branko, 1995. "Poverty, inequality, and social policy in transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1530, The World Bank.
    29. Papanek, Gustav F. & Kyn, Oldrich, 1986. "The effect on income distribution of development, the growth rate and economic strategy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 55-65, September.
    30. Jha, Sailesh K., 1996. "The Kuznets curve: A reassessment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 773-780, April.
    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. Jean-Marie Cardebat & Alexandru Dimitrescu, 2011. "Social Responsibility of the countries and their international trade : A gravitational approach," Larefi Working Papers 201102, Larefi, Université Bordeaux 4.
    2. J. M. Cardebat & Alexandru Dumitrescu, 2013. "Social responsibility of countries and their international trade: A gravitational approach," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 234-252, March.

    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. Kanbur, Ravi, 2000. "Income distribution and development," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 791-841, Elsevier.
    2. Remi Bazillier & Nicolas Sirven, 2008. "Is There a Social Kuznets Curve? The Influence of Labour Standards on Inequality," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(7), pages 913-934.
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287.
    4. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.
    5. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Ruixin Zhang, 2015. "On the impact of financial development on income distribution: time-series evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(12), pages 1248-1271, March.
    6. Ayal Kimhi, 2004. "Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 1281, CESifo.
    7. Martin Rama, 2002. "Globalization and Workers in Developing Countries," Economics Study Area Working Papers 41, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    8. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2009. "Education And Income Inequality In The Regions Of The European Union," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 411-437, August.
    9. Frazer, Garth, 2006. "Inequality and development across and within countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1459-1481, September.
    10. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Mehrnoosh Hasanzade, 2020. "Asymmetric Link between U.S. Tariff Policy and Income Distribution: Evidence from State Level Data," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 821-857, September.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3202 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Lyubimov, Ivan (Любимов, Иван), 2016. "A look at the evolution of income inequality: Piketty against Blacksmith - 60 years later [Взгляд На Эволюцию Неравенства Доходов: Пикетти Против Кузнеца — 60 Лет Спустя]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 27-42, February.
    13. Motonishi, Taizo, 2006. "Why has income inequality in Thailand increased?: An analysis using surveys from 1975 to 1998," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 464-487, December.
    14. Jülide Yildirim & Nadir Öcal & Süheyla Özyildirim, 2009. "Income Inequality and Economic Convergence in Turkey: A Spatial Effect Analysis," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 221-254, April.
    15. Lyubimov, Ivan, 2017. "Income inequality revisited 60 years later: Piketty vs Kuznets," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 42-53.
    16. Takahiro AKITA & Rizal Affandi LUKMAN & Yukino YAMADA, 1999. "Inequality In The Distribution Of Household Expenditures In Indonesia: A Theil Decomposition Analysis," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 37(2), pages 197-221, June.
    17. Bourguignon, Francois & Morrisson, Christian, 1998. "Inequality and development: the role of dualism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 233-257.
    18. Mohsen Bahmani‐Oskooee & Mehrnoosh Hasanzade, 2022. "Policy uncertainty and income distribution: Asymmetric evidence from state‐level data in the United States," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 179-220, January.
    19. Pierre, Gaëlle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment Regulations through the Eyes of Employers: Do They Matter and How Do Firms Respond to Them?," IZA Discussion Papers 1424, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Joël Hellier & Stéphane Lambrecht, 2013. "Inequality, Growth and Welfare: The Main Links," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joël Hellier & Nathalie Chusseau (ed.), Growing Income Inequalities, chapter 9, pages 274-311, Palgrave Macmillan.
    21. Perdamen Sagala & Takahiro Akita & Arief Yusuf, 2014. "Urbanization and expenditure inequality in Indonesia: testing the Kuznets hypothesis with provincial panel data," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 133-147, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J80 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:mon:ceddtr:123. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.