The impact of core labour standards on exports

✍ Scribed by Baban Hasnat

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 73 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0969-5931
• DOI: 10.1016/s0969-5931(02)00037-9

✦ Synopsis

Developed countries contend that trade in goods whose production is not in conformity with internationally recognized basic labour standards should be restricted, while developing countries view any attempt to link trade and labour standards as a form of protectionism that intends to end their comparative advantage. This paper provides an empirical examination of the relation between trade and core labour standards. It develops an export supply function and uses OLS techniques to test it for 58 non-OECD countries. It finds that only one core standard, the right to organize and collective bargaining, has a statistically significant negative impact on exports. The results are insensitive to the level of development of the countries included in the study. The main conclusion that emerges is that, ignoring the right to organize and collective bargaining, core labour standards do not play a significant role in trade performance.