TY - JOUR
T1 - Trade-based diffusion of labor rights
T2 - A panel study, 1986-2002
AU - Greenhill, Brian
AU - Mosley, Layna
AU - Prakash, Aseem
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Xun Cao, Judith Goldstein, Andrew Grant, Stephan Haggard, Anna Leander, Nita Rudra, and Michael Ward, as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers of the APSR, for their helpful comments and suggestions. Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 2008 annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, the International Studies Association, and the International Political Economy Society. Aseem Prakash acknowledges financial support from the Center for International Business Education and Research, University of Washington. Replication files for the results presented in this article can be accessed at http://dvn.iq.harvard.edu/dvn/dv/briangreenhill.
PY - 2009/11
Y1 - 2009/11
N2 - This article investigates the nature of the linkages between trade and labor rights in developing countries. Specifically, we hypothesize that a California effect serves to transmit superior labor standards from importing to exporting countries, in a manner similar to the transmission of environmental standards. We maintain that, all else being equal, the labor standards of a given country are influenced not by its overall level of trade openness, but by the labor standards of its trading partners. We evaluate our hypothesis using a panel of 90 developing countries over the period 19862002, and we separately examine the extent to which the labor laws and the actual labor practices of the countries are influenced by those of their export destinations. We find that strong legal protections of collective labor rights in a country's export destinations are associated with more stringent labor laws in the exporting country. This California effect finding is, however, weaker in the context of labor rights practices, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between formal legislation and actual implementation of labor rights.
AB - This article investigates the nature of the linkages between trade and labor rights in developing countries. Specifically, we hypothesize that a California effect serves to transmit superior labor standards from importing to exporting countries, in a manner similar to the transmission of environmental standards. We maintain that, all else being equal, the labor standards of a given country are influenced not by its overall level of trade openness, but by the labor standards of its trading partners. We evaluate our hypothesis using a panel of 90 developing countries over the period 19862002, and we separately examine the extent to which the labor laws and the actual labor practices of the countries are influenced by those of their export destinations. We find that strong legal protections of collective labor rights in a country's export destinations are associated with more stringent labor laws in the exporting country. This California effect finding is, however, weaker in the context of labor rights practices, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between formal legislation and actual implementation of labor rights.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0003055409990116
DO - 10.1017/S0003055409990116
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:73949137167
SN - 0003-0554
VL - 103
SP - 669
EP - 690
JO - American Political Science Review
JF - American Political Science Review
IS - 4
ER -