IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/963.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade and the distributional politics of international labour standards

Author

Listed:
  • Oslington, Paul

Abstract

This paper constructs a simple general equilibrium model of the trade and distributional effects of spreading advanced country international labour standards to developing countries. Labour standards (including minimum safety requirements, prohibition of prison and child labour, and rights to unionise) are represented as a floor to the cost of employing labour. The model shows how the spread of standards affects the terms of trade and pattern of international specialisation, and can shift unskilled unemployment from advanced to developing countries, redistribute income among groups of factor owners in different countries. Political support for labour standards is predicted to come from a coalition of advanced country unskilled workers with insecure jobs and the secure unskilled in developing countries. Opposition is predicted from owners of other factors. Overall country lobbying positions in international forums will depend on the relative strengths of the groups within the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Oslington, Paul, 2005. "Trade and the distributional politics of international labour standards," MPRA Paper 963, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:963
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/963/1/MPRA_paper_963.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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, April.
    2. Drusilla K. Brown, 2001. "Labor Standards: Where Do They Belong on the International Trade Agenda?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 89-112, Summer.
    3. Richard A. Brecher, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116.
    4. Alireza Naghavi, 2003. "Asymmetric labor markets and the location of firms: Are multinationals attracted to weak labor standards?," Working Papers 200323, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    5. 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.
    6. Maskus, Keith E., 1997. "Should core labor standards be imposed through international trade policy?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1817, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Robert M. Stern, 2003. "Labor Standards and Trade Agreements," Working Papers 496, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    3. Alejandro Donado & Klaus Wälde, 2008. "Trade Unions go global!," Working Papers 2008_22, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Aug 2008.
    4. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2009. "Pros and Cons of Linking Trade and Labor Standards," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization And International Trade Policies, chapter 16, pages 599-621, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Hayter, Susan., 2005. "The social dimension of global production systems : a review of the issues," ILO Working Papers 993749973402676, International Labour Organization.
    6. Patrick Belser, 1998. "¿Depende el desempleo en América Latina y el Caribe de las normas laborales de Asia?," Research Department Publications 4133, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    7. Drusilla K Brown & Alan V Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2013. "Labor Standards and Human Rights: Implications for International Trade and Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Zdenek Drabek & Petros Mavroidis (ed.), Regulation of Foreign Investment Challenges to International Harmonization, chapter 5, pages 153-195, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    9. Grethe, Harald, 2007. "High animal welfare standards in the EU and international trade - How to prevent potential `low animal welfare havens'?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 315-333, June.
    10. Kimberly Ann Elliott & Richard B. Freeman, 2004. "White Hats or Don Quixotes? Human Rights Vigilantes in the Global Economy," NBER Chapters, in: Emerging Labor Market Institutions for the Twenty-First Century, pages 47-97, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Donado, Alejandro & Wälde, Klaus, 2010. "How bad is globalization for labour standards in the north?," W.E.P. - Würzburg Economic Papers 84, University of Würzburg, Department of Economics.
    12. Drusilla Brown & Alan Deardorff & Robert Stern, 1998. "Trade and Labor Standards," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 171-194, April.
    13. Robertson,Raymond, 2021. "Deep Integration in Trade Agreements : Labor Clauses, Tariffs, and Trade Flows," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9599, The World Bank.
    14. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier, 2010. "Migration and Trade Union Rights," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 146(IV), pages 677-707, December.
    15. Drusilla K. Brown, 2001. "Labor Standards: Where Do They Belong on the International Trade Agenda?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 89-112, Summer.
    16. Eric V. Edmonds & Nina Pavcnik, 2005. "Child Labor in the Global Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 199-220, Winter.
    17. Alireza Naghavi, 2007. "Asymmetric Labor Markets, Southern Wages and the Location of Firms," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 463-481, August.
    18. Rémi Bazillier & Nicolas Sirven, 2006. "Les normes fondamentales du travail contribuent-elles à réduire les inégalités ?," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 21(2), pages 111-146.
    19. Nirvikar Singh, 2004. "The Impact of International Labor Standards: A Survey of Economic Theory," International Trade 0412007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Nancy H. Chau & Ravi Kanbur, 2006. "The Race to the Bottom, from the Bottom," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(290), pages 193-228, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade; International Labour Standards; Harmonization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

    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:pra:mprapa:963. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.