Social Clauses and International Trade: Economic Analysis of Labour Standards in Trade Policy by Gote Hansson

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Department of Economics. Subject classification (UKÄ) – MANDATORY.

Home All Categories Social Clauses and International Trade: Economic Analysis of Labour Standards in Trade Policy. ISBN13: 9780312731625. Social Clauses and International Trade.

Labour Standards in the World Trade Organization are binding rules, which form a part of the jurisprudence and principles applied within the rule making institutions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Labour standards play an implicit, but not an overt role within the WTO, however it forms a prominent issue facing the WTO today, and has generated a wealth of academic debate.

Second, market forces are a key determi-nant. Finally, Convention 117 of 1962 sets out basic aims and standards of social policy. The aim of this section is to compare this subset of labour standards in countries that are members of RTAs, and to assess whether some convergence in such stand-ards is taking place.

Book- Economic Development Through Regional Trade: A role for the new East African Community? May T. Yeung. It is now common for producers (economic protectionism), consumers and social advocates (humanitarian motives) to urge for the inclusion of labour standards in international trade agreements. In spite of this, there has been little empirical work to determine whether low labour standards lead to trade distortions. This paper provides some empirical evidence pertaining to this question. groups, social advocates and traditional vested interests such as labour unions have attempted to have labour standards included in WTO disciplines.

International Institute for Labour Studies. Labour Standards in Trade and Investment Arrangements. Labour issues are increasingly taken into consideration in bilateral and regional trade and investment policies. This trend emerges clearly in the multiplication of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which include labour clauses as well as in the growing number of developing countries that are covered by these agreements. Although still far from mainstream investment policy and less developed than the trade counterpart, labour provisions are also increasingly included in International Investment Agreements (IIAs). Furthermore, both the EU and the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSPs) refer to international labour standards.

International labour law is the body of rules spanning public and private international law which concern the rights and duties of employees, employers, trade unions and governments in regulating the workplace. The International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization have been the main international bodies involved in reforming labour markets.

International labour standards therefore lay down the basic minimum social standards agreed upon by all players in the global economy. A level playing field. An international legal framework on social standards ensures a level playing field in the global economy. It helps governments and employers to avoid the temptation of lowering labour standards in the belief that this could give them a greater comparative advantage in international trade. In the long run such practices do not benefit anyone. A means of improving economic performance. International labour standards are sometimes perceived as entailing significant costs and thus hindering economic development.