International Labor Standards and International Trade
International Labor Standards and International Trade

Author: Mr.Stephen S. Golub

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1997-04-01

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13: 1451845537

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This paper reviews controversies regarding linkage of international trade and labor standards. Pressures for international harmonization of labor standards arise in the context of increased trade between countries with large disparities in wages, and also reflect the history of labor standards. A critical distinction is made between standards related to fundamental human rights and those related to employment conditions. The main conclusion is that trade sanctions to enforce labor standards should not be an option, but that international agreements on core labor standards, with voluntary compliance, may, apart from being worthwhile on ethical grounds, defuse calls for protection.

Odd Couple
Odd Couple

Author: Michael Huberman

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-05-29

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0300158769

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It has become commonplace to think that globalization has produced a race to the bottom in terms of labor standards and quality of life: the cheaper the labor and the lower the benefits afforded workers, the more competitively a country can participate on the global stage. But in this book the distinguished economic historian Michael Huberman demonstrates that globalization has in fact been very good for workers’ quality of life, and that improved labor conditions have promoted globalization.

International Trade and Labor Standards
International Trade and Labor Standards

Author: Christian Barry

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2008-07-03

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0231512961

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Progressive governments in poor countries fear that if they undertake measures to enhance real wages and working conditions, rising labor costs would cause wealthier countries to import from and invest elsewhere. Yet if the world trading system were designed to facilitate or even reward measures to promote labor standards, poor countries could undertake them without fear. In this book, Christian Barry and Sanjay G. Reddy propose ways in which the international trading system can support poor countries in promoting the well-being of their peoples. Reforms to the trading system can lessen the collective-action problem among poor countries, increasing their freedom to pursue policy that better serves the interests of their people. Incorporating the right kind of linkage between trading opportunities and the promotion of labor standards could empower countries, allowing them greater effective sovereignty and enabling them to improve the circumstances of the less advantaged. Barry and Reddy demonstrate how linkage can be made acceptable to all players, and they carefully defend these ideas against those who might initially disagree. Their volume is accessible to general readers but draws on sophisticated economic and philosophical arguments and includes responses from leading labor activists, economists, and philosophers, including Kyle Bagwell, Robert Goodin, Rohini Hensman, and Roberto Mangabeira Unger.

Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization?
Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization?

Author: Kimberly Ann Elliott

Publisher: Peterson Institute for International Economics

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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In this study, the authors move beyond the debate on the relative merits and risks of a social clause in trade agreements and focus on practical approaches for improving labour standards in a more intergrated global economy.

Monitoring International Labor Standards
Monitoring International Labor Standards

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-06-11

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0309091349

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This new report provides a framework within which to assess compliance with core international labor standards and succeeds in taking an enormous step toward interpreting all relevant information into one central database. At the request of the Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Research Council's Committee on Monitoring International Labor Standards was charged with identifying relevant and useful sources of country-level data, assessing the quality of such data, identifying innovative measures to monitor compliance, exploring the relationship between labor standards and human capital, and making recommendations on reporting procedures to monitor compliance. The result of the committee's work is in two partsâ€"this report and a database structure. Together, they offer a first step toward the goal of providing an empirical foundation to monitor compliance with core labor standards. The report provides a comprehensive review of extant data sources, with emphasis on their relevance to defined labor standards, their utility to decision makers in charge of assessing or monitoring compliance, and the cautions necessary to understand and use the quantitative information.

Assessment of Labour Provisions in Trade and Investment Arrangements
Assessment of Labour Provisions in Trade and Investment Arrangements

Author: International Labor Office

Publisher: International Labor Office

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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Nearly half of trade agreements concluded in the past five years included either a labor chapter or labor provision that makes reference to international labor standards and ILO instruments. The evidence so far suggests that labor provisions have been an important tool for raising awareness and improving laws and legislations with respect to workers' rights, increasing stakeholder involvement in negotiation and implementation phases, and developing domestic institutions to better monitor and enforce labor standards. But challenges remain, particularly with respect to sustainability of impacts, coherence, and cooperative efforts. This new report, part of the Studies on Growth with Equity series, gives a full examination of the scope and effectiveness of these labor provisions.

International Labor Standards
International Labor Standards

Author: Robert J. Flanagan

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780804746908

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This book provides the most thorough empirical assessment to date of the impact of international regulation on labor standards and conditions, and critically analyzes the common race-to-the-bottom view that globalization and international competition can only further degrade labor standards.

Globalization and Labor Conditions
Globalization and Labor Conditions

Author: Robert J. Flanagan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-07-20

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0195306007

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"Globalization and Labor Conditions explains how the three main mechanisms of globalization - trade, international migration, and international capital flows - alter working conditions (particularly wages, work hours, and job safety) and labor rights (freedom of association, nondiscrimination, and the elimination of forced and child labor). An important subtheme is the relative importance of international markets and international regulation in providing improvements in labor conditions around the world. Robert Flanagan draws on analyses from his own database on international labor conditions assembled for this project and research on globalization and labor conditions. The book presents evidence on how conditions changed during late 20th-century globalization, and on how economic growth, international trade, migration, and multinational companies influence labor conditions."--BOOK JACKET.

Globalization And International Trade Policies
Globalization And International Trade Policies

Author: Robert M Stern

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2009-09-04

Total Pages: 794

ISBN-13: 9814477125

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This book brings together a collection of papers that Robert M Stern and his co-authors have written in recent years. The collection addresses a variety of issues pertinent to the global trading system. One group of papers deals with globalization in terms of what the public needs to know about this phenomenon and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whether some countries may be hurt by globalization, how global market integration relates to national sovereignty, and how and whether considerations of fairness are and should be dealt with in the global trading system and WTO negotiations. A second group of papers consists of analytical and computational modeling studies of multilateral, regional, and bilateral trading arrangements and negotiations from a global and national perspective for the United States and other major trading countries. The remaining papers include an empirical analysis of barriers to international services transactions and the consequences of liberalization, and issues of international trade and labor standards.