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Block, Richard N.; Zoninsein, Jonas --- "International Labor Standards and International Trade: An Economic Overview" [2009] ELECD 425; in Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly (eds), "Labor and Employment Law and Economics" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Labor and Employment Law and Economics

Editor(s): Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207296

Section: Chapter 23

Section Title: International Labor Standards and International Trade: An Economic Overview

Author(s): Block, Richard N.; Zoninsein, Jonas

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

23 International labor standards and
international trade: an economic
overview
Richard N. Block and Jonas Zoninsein


1 Introduction
Questions surrounding international labor standards have long been a
matter of intense debate among politicians, academics, business people and
trade unionists. Politicians in many countries are caught in cross-currents
among businesses, who advocate minimal regulation; labor leaders, whose
interest in international labor standards depends on whether workers
in their countries are seen as potential beneficiaries from or victims of
international labor standards; and their own concerns about the effect
of international labor standards on economic development (Fields 2003;
Schaeffer 2007). The academic assessment of international labor standards
depends on how one views the efficacy of unregulated markets (Srinivasan
1996; OECD 1996; Block et al. 2001).
Generally, matters relating to international labor standards are raised
in the context of international trade agreements. The argument for inter-
national labor standards is generally framed as a debate about a `social
clause'. By a social clause, one means the question of whether agreements
to reduce trade barriers and encourage free trade among international
trading partners should be contingent on the trading partners adhering
to some internationally determined minimal level of labor standards for
the domestic labor force in each country. The underlying premise is that
a trading partner that does not adopt labor standards at the minimal
level obtains an unfair trade advantage over its higher-labor-standards
counterparts (Block et al. 2001).
The World Trade Organization (WTO), the international organization
that governs international trade ...