Documents Scherrer, Christoph 20 results

"Gegenüber der vor allem von zivilgesellschaftlicher Seite wachsenden Kritik am angestrebten Transatlantischen Handels- und Investitionsabkommen (TTIP) ermitteln ökonomische Studien wie die vom ifo Institut München zum Teil hohe Wohlfahrtsgewinne. Die ifo-Studien grenzen sich von den herkömmlichen rechenbaren Allgemeinen Gleichgewichtsmodellen ab. Doch es bleibt fraglich, ob es diesen Studien gelingt, durch ökonometrische Schätzungen der Modellparameter und durch die Berücksichtigung von Arbeitslosigkeit sowie imperfektem Wettbewerb die bekannten Schwächen der Gleichgewichtsmodelle zu überwinden. Nach einer kurzen allgemeinen Einschätzung der Risiken des TTIP prüft dieser Artikel daher die innere Konsistenz der ifo-Studien, die Realitätsnähe der Modellannahmen und die unterstellten Kausalitäten. Im Ergebnis muss der Optimismus der ökonomischen Studien mit Vorsicht genossen werden, da die verbleibenden Unsicherheiten der Prognosen groß sind."

"The working paper's main objective is to explore the extent to which non-compliance to international labor rights is caused by global competition. From the perspective of institutional economics, compliance with core labor rights is beneficial for sustainable development. Nonetheless, violations of these rights occur on a massive scale. The violators usually blame competitive pressures. A number of studies have come to the conclusion that non-compliance does not provide for a competitive edge, thereby denying any economic rationale for non-compliance. While we sympathize with this conclusion, we find that these studies suffer from faulty assumptions in the design of their regression analyses. The assumption of perfect markets devoid of power relations is particularly unrealistic. While workers' rights promise long-term benefits, they may incur short-term production cost increases. On the supply side, the production sites with the highest amount of labor rights violations are characterized by a near perfect competitive situation. The demand side, however, is dominated by an oligopoly of brand name companies and large retailers. Facing a large pool of suppliers, these companies enjoy more bargaining power. Developing countries, the hosts to most of these suppliers, are therefore limited in their ability to raise labor standards on their own. This competitive situation, however, is the very reason why labor rights have to be negotiated internationally. Our exploration starts with an outline of the institutionalist argument of the benefits of core labor rights. Second, we briefly examine some cross-country empirical studies on the impact of trade liberalization (as a proxy for competitive pressures). Third, we develop our own argument which differentiates the impact of trade liberalization along the axes of labor- and capital-intensive production as well as low and medium skill production. Finally, we present evidence from a study on the impact of trade liberalization in Indonesia on the garment industry as an example of a low skill, laborintensive industry on the one hand, and the automobile as an example for a medium skill, capital-intensive industry on the other hand. Because the garment industry's workforce consists mainly of women, we also discuss the gender dimension of trade liberalization."

"The Honda workers' strike in 2010 attracted world wide attention. It was one of thousands of labor disputes that happen every year in China, but it was the first major calling for the right of workers to represent themselves in collective bargaining. The question of representation is therefore the main topic of the book. The various contributors to this volume share the view that the Chinese party-state takes the protest against social inequality seriously. It has enacted many laws aimed at channeling dissatisfaction into safe channels. The implementation of these laws, however, lags behind and these laws do not include the right of freedom of association. Without this right, super-exploitation will persist and the system of labor relations will remain prone to eruptive forms of protest. The first part of the book provides an overview of the economic context of Chinese labor relations, the transformation of class-relations, the evolution of labor law, and government policies intended to set a wage floor. Based on extensive field research, the second part looks at the evolution of labor relations at the industry level. In the third part, the focus shifts to the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda in China. The final part looks at the connection between land reform and social inequality."

"The substantial and increasing encroachment of trade agreements into almost every aspect of economic and social life make it imperative for trade unions to engage in trade policy and agreement making processes, not just at the international but also at the national level. However, union staff frequently lack knowledge, not only about the substantive issues related to trade, but also about the trade policy process within their own country. This research project, initiated by the Global Labour University (GLU), is an attempt to address this gap by undertaking a comparative analysis of trade union capacity to influence trade policies at the national level. The analysis draws on case studies from a wide spectrum, ranging from developed and newly industrialised to developing countries. A framework drawn from social movement theory is used to reveal how differences in the political opportunity structure available within each country impacts on the strategic choices available to unions, and also, how trade policy processes and unions' own organisational structures and dynamics impact on their capacity to mobilise resources for action against trade liberalisation. Great variation is found in the countries studied, both in terms of political opportunity structure and in terms of trade union capacity. In very few cases do unions have both institutional opportunity to intervene in trade policy processes and sufficiently developed policy expertise and mobilising capacity to take advantage of such opportunity. However, the research also shows that institutional opportunity is not static and unions can have an impact on trade policy and negotiations, even where they have limited access and capacity."