Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? PDF Download

Author: Kimberly Ann Elliott
Publisher: Peterson Institute for International Economics
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
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.

Author: Johan F. M. Swinnen
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 1845931866
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Using original research from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, this book reviews the recent restructuring of the global agri-food industry and the dramatic rise of global retail chains in developing and transition countries. It focuses on the private standards and requirements imposed by multinational companies investing in these countries and the resulting changes to existing supply chains. It also examines the impact of these changes on local producers, particularly poor farmers, and considers the long-term policy implications in terms of growth and poverty.

Author: Keshab Das
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 8132219945
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The changes following more than two decades of economic reforms and globalization of the Indian economy – at state, corporate sector, and consumer level – raise interesting questions on the ways in which the stakeholders will continue to engage on the world stage, politically, socially and economically. One key feature of global trade over this period has been the growing importance of not only product standards but, importantly, labor, environmental, food safety and social standards. Being essentially a non-tariff barrier,standards have often become critical to market access and essential to sustained competitiveness. This has a clear impact on the manner in which both global and Indian business is conducted now and in the future. It also underlines the need for a new area of enquiry that addresses the following questions: How are the Indian public and private actors – the state, domestic firms, local consumers and society – influencing and being influenced by such standards? Do standards really matter in an overwhelmingly informal production sphere, with consumers deeply segmented on the basis of a highly skewed distribution of income and with the rural population becoming further marginalized? We have limited knowledge about the challenges faced and strategies pursued by these key domestic actors, both public and private. How have they been able to drive these processes and what are their implications for larger concerns with inequalities and the conditions of the poor? How does the omnipresent informality influence compliance, encourage multiple standards and affect the chances of addressing institutional dysfunctionality? What role does regulation play? These are some of the issues dealt with in the book, which has chapters focusing on aspects of specific sectors such as microfinance, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, tea trading, the role of the state and changing consumer influence. We have limited knowledge about the challenges faced and strategies pursued by these key domestic actors, both public and private. How have been they able to drive these processes and what are the consequences of these changes for the Indian economy, other emergent economies and for the rest of the developing world? In particular, what are their implications for the wider Indian society, especially on concerns with informality, inequalities and the conditions of the poor? How does informality in its omnipresent form influence compliance, encourage multiple standards and chances of addressing institutional dysfunctionality? What role does regulation play? These are some of the issues dealt within the book wherein chapters focus on aspects of specific sectors, trading, role of the state and changing influence of the consumer.

Author: Jean-Christophe Graz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108499864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Examines a new form of power in contemporary global political economy, focusing on the hybrid authority of standards in the globalisation of services. This book is also available as Open Access.

Author: John D. R. Craig
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139452622
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
How are national and international labour laws responding to the challenge of globalization as it re-shapes the workplaces of the world? This collection of essays by leading legal scholars and lawyers from Europe and the Americas was first published in 2006. It addresses the implications of globalization for the legal regulation of the workplace. It examines the role of international labour standards and the contribution of the International Labour Organization, and assesses the success of the European experiment with continental employment standards. It explores the prospects for hemispheric co-operation on labour standards in the Americas, and deals with the impact of international labour standards on the rights of women and migrant workers. As the nature and organization of work around the world is being decisively transformed, new regional and international institutions are emerging that may provide the platform for new labour standards, and for protecting existing ones.

Author: Thomas Covell Fischer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594606656
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"Globalization" -- an economic phenomenon that has dominated the late 20th and early 21st centuries -- is poorly understood. Politicians and the media often portray it in its worst light: outsourcing, offshoring, job loss, intellectual property piracy, diminished U.S. influence. But globalization has positive impacts as well: poverty reduction, U.S. export growth, harmonization of standards and practices, greater peace and security. Unlike many books that lionize or demonize globalization, this one seeks to set the record straight. Globalization is neither an unvarnished virtue nor an unmitigated vice. Rather, it is a subtle process that has both virtues (economic growth) and vices (dislocation). It has already lifted millions of persons out of grinding poverty and reduced the spread of disease. But, it also has spurred the migration of workers and increased competition for resources. Unfortunately, globalization''s vices are all too immediate and evident, whereas its virtues are often muted and long-term. This recent financial crisis is a prime example of global disjunction. The financial services industry is clearly global. Yet its regulation is national or regional. But if the response to this crisis produces better coordination and greater economic stability and growth, all participants are likely to be better off. This book is also comprehensive, not examining one aspect of globalization (for example, jobs or climate change) in isolation, but treating the topic as a whole. Further, it makes suggestions to improve the process. The whole world is in flux. To a degree, change is inevitable. If globalization has its flaws -- and it does -- it has enormous potential as well. How do we preserve the best of these and avoid the worst. "This is a book recommended to the thoughtful reader, curious for knowledge and a chance to think deeply about possible the most important, if often misunderstood and sometimes distorted and abused, phenomenon in the world today." -- Don Wallace, Jr., Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Chairman of the International Law Institute"This is an important study, presented in a clear, often conversational style. Professor Fischer has succeeded in bringing us up to date on so many aspects of globalization, and his itemization of those aspects is valuable in dispelling over-optimistic expectations while at the same time underlining the need to move ahead. He deals with globalization in a scholarly and clear-minded work which deserves to be widely read and widely consulted." -- Professor Sir David Williams, QC, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Emeritus Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge "What''s Wrong with "Globalization"!? has much to recommend it, and succeeds on several levels. The subject of globalization raises a remarkable number of issues and considerations. They range from social issues such as labor and health standards, to international institutions such as the World Bank, and must be considered in the context of the tension between national and international interests. Globalization is not a simple subject, but this book organizes and addresses the relevant issues in an orderly and well written package. If one is interested in a specific globalization issue such as the environment, a well written summary can be found in the book. If one''s focus is on the global flow of capital and investments, or in broad trends of international trade or in the future of globalization, they are all covered in this book. The approach is not even-handed, but also puts those many issues into a broader, overarching framework that such a complex subject deserves." -- Theodore Collins, Counsel, Perkins Coie, Seattle; former General Counsel of The Boeing Company "Thom Fischer''s is one of the few books about globalization that cover the subject in a truly global approach without losing sight of details of the many facets of globalization. This very timely book describes the successes and shortcomings of a work in progress with examples from all four corners of the world, thereby making a strong case for continuing on the road toward globalization and more international cooperation. It should be required reading for those who, in this time of global economic and financial crisis, promote national-state isolationistic policies." -- Juergen R. Ostertag, Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City "This book is a magisterial special pleading in favor of globalization properly understood. It is based on a dazzling array of facts designed to prove the essential interconnectedness of global economic players generated by unprecedented and irreversible growth of the forces of cross-border investment and commercial integration. Fischer''s voice deserves to be heard." -- Dr. Siegfried Wiessner, Professor of Law and Director, Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights, St. Thomas University School of Law

Author: Martin Wolf
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300251734
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 636

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Book Description
A powerful case for the global market economy The debate on globalization has reached a level of intensity that inhibits comprehension and obscures the issues. In this book a highly distinguished international economist scrupulously explains how globalization works as a concept and how it operates in reality. Martin Wolf confronts the charges against globalization, delivers a devastating critique of each, and offers a realistic scenario for economic internationalism in the future. Wolf begins by outlining the history of the global economy in the twentieth century and explaining the mechanics of world trade. He dissects the agenda of globalization’s critics, and rebuts the arguments that it undermines sovereignty, weakens democracy, intensifies inequality, privileges the multinational corporation, and devastates the environment. The author persuasively defends the principles of international economic integration, arguing that the biggest obstacle to global economic progress has been the failure not of the market but of politics and government, in rich countries as well as poor. He examines the threat that terrorism poses and maps the way to a global market economy that can work for everyone.

Author: Jeffrey D. Sachs
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231550480
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Today’s most urgent problems are fundamentally global. They require nothing less than concerted, planetwide action if we are to secure a long-term future. But humanity’s story has always been on a global scale. In this book, Jeffrey D. Sachs, renowned economist and expert on sustainable development, turns to world history to shed light on how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. Sachs takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change, starting with the original settling of the planet by early modern humans through long-distance migration and ending with reflections on today’s globalization. Along the way, he considers how the interplay of geography, technology, and institutions influenced the Neolithic revolution; the role of the horse in the emergence of empires; the spread of large land-based empires in the classical age; the rise of global empires after the opening of sea routes from Europe to Asia and the Americas; and the industrial age. The dynamics of these past waves, Sachs demonstrates, offer fresh perspective on the ongoing processes taking place in our own time—a globalization based on digital technologies. Sachs emphasizes the need for new methods of international governance and cooperation to prevent conflicts and to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives aligned with sustainable development. The Ages of Globalization is a vital book for all readers aiming to make sense of our rapidly changing world.

Author: Dani Rodrik
Publisher: Peterson Institute
ISBN: 0881325252
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description

Author: Robert E. Baldwin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226036553
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
People passionately disagree about the nature of the globalization process. The failure of both the 1999 and 2003 World Trade Organization's (WTO) ministerial conferences in Seattle and Cancun, respectively, have highlighted the tensions among official, international organizations like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, nongovernmental and private sector organizations, and some developing country governments. These tensions are commonly attributed to longstanding disagreements over such issues as labor rights, environmental standards, and tariff-cutting rules. In addition, developing countries are increasingly resentful of the burdens of adjustment placed on them that they argue are not matched by commensurate commitments from developed countries. Challenges to Globalization evaluates the arguments of pro-globalists and anti-globalists regarding issues such as globalization's relationship to democracy, its impact on the environment and on labor markets including the brain drain, sweat shop labor, wage levels, and changes in production processes, and the associated expansion of trade and its effects on prices. Baldwin, Winters, and the contributors to this volume look at multinational firms, foreign investment, and mergers and acquisitions and present surprising findings that often run counter to the claim that multinational firms primarily seek countries with low wage labor. The book closes with papers on financial opening and on the relationship between international economic policies and national economic growth rates.