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Studies in Comparative International Development

Erschienen in:

01.06.2010

Globalization and Labor in Four Developing Regions: An Institutional Approach

verfasst von: Barbara Stallings

Erschienen in: Studies in Comparative International Development | Ausgabe 2/2010

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Abstract

This paper is the introduction to a SCID special issue on “Global Pressures, National Response, and Labor Rights in Developing Countries.” We focus on the potentially conflicting demands that developing countries face from international institutions for better labor standards versus more labor flexibility. This is studied through a comparative analysis of four regions: Eastern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East. The major international institutions we examine are the International Labor Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements, and multinational corporations. This introductory paper presents a review of existing literature on labor standards and labor flexibility with particular focus on the role of international institutions in promoting the two processes and their impact on labor market outcomes. It also describes our project and its contribution to the debates, including a discussion of our main methodological innovation, namely, the construction of new indices for labor standards and flexibility. In empirical terms, it compares the indices across the four regions and provides an analysis of the impact of the indices on labor market outcomes.

Vorheriger Artikel A Tribute to Marsha Pripstein Posusney, 1953–2008

Nächster Artikel International Institutions and Workers’ Rights: Between Labor Standards and Market Flexibility

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Although 70% of the 55 individual countries in our four regional samples are classified by the World Bank as middle income, 13 countries are defined as high income and four as low income.

The continued promotion of flexibility is not limited to the IFIs. For example, a recent publication by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, authored by a progressive former minister from Chile who analyzes policies needed to deal with the current economic crisis, says that “new legislation will be required that reduces the costs of hiring and firing by firms, thus increasing market flexibility.” See Foxley (2009: 16).

On the WTO and labor issues, see Grynberg and Qalo (2008); Stern and Terrell (2003); Brown (2001); Burtless (2001); Khor (1997).

On the US and EU GSP processes, and reasons that the former has placed stricter limits on partner countries, see Grynberg and Qalo (2008).

A recent report for the Congressional Research Service describes four models for the inclusion of labor rights in US FTAs; see Bolle (2008).

See, for example, Wise (2003) for a discussion of this issue with respect to Mexico.

See Keune (2009) for a more skeptical view. More generally, see Orbie and Tortell (2009) for an examination of the evolving role of the EU with respect to labor rights.

Aita (2008) provides an extensive study of the Euromed program; Martín was the scientific advisor of the project.

See, for example, Emmenegger (2010) and Madsen (2006). A labor union view is ETUC (2007).

Flexicurity is being discussed in Latin America. See, for example, Weller (2009).

For other evaluations of the corporate social responsibility process as it concerns labor rights, see Feinberg (2009), Compa (2008), Seidman (2007), Jenkins, Pearson, and Seyfang (2002), and Fung, O’Rourke, and Sabel (2001).

See Stallings (1995) for an argument about the relevance of regions for socioeconomic analysis.

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See, for example, Poe, Carey, and Vasquez (2001) on the State Department indicators; Caraway (2006) on ILO definitions.

See Thomas (2010), Apaza (2009), and Kurtz and Schrank (2007) for good discussions of these issues.

See www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance for information on one widely used set of institutional indicators. Criticisms of these indicators were discussed above.

It may also have to do with different methods for calculating de facto scores for labor standards and flexibility.

On the difference between external influence as leverage versus linkage, see Stallings (1992). Linkage refers to the internalization of external influence.

This puzzle—why greater consensus exists on flexibility than on labor standards—suggests a weakness with our approach in this project. We focus on the institutional elements of globalization at the cost of ignoring the economic aspects. But the greater convergence on flexibility may well result from these economic characteristics. For example, the ability to export successfully and to obtain access to foreign capital may force countries to follow more flexible policies. Why this would not also hold for labor standards is beyond the scope of the project because of our design.

Sources for these variables are: minimum wage and average wage (ILO, LABORSTA database); unemployment and informality (ILO, key indicators of the labor market database). I thank Bapu Vaitla for help with this analysis.

The Singaporean outlier is a good illustration of the problem with bivariate analysis. Since Singapore has much higher per capita GDP than most countries in our sample, its wages will obviously be high, demonstrating the need to control for income level-in addition to other variables.

The Associational and Organizational Rights component of the Freedom House Civil Rights measure includes freedom of assembly, demonstration and open public discussion; freedom for nongovernmental organizations; free trade unions and peasant organization or equivalents; effective collective bargaining; and free professional and other private organizations. Higher scores reflect stronger rights.

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Titel: Globalization and Labor in Four Developing Regions: An Institutional Approach
verfasst von: Barbara Stallings
Publikationsdatum: 01.06.2010
Verlag: Springer-Verlag
Erschienen in: Studies in Comparative International Development / Ausgabe 2/2010
Print ISSN: 0039-3606
Elektronische ISSN: 1936-6167
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-010-9066-8

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