Assessment of Labour Provisions in Trade and Investment Arrangements


Book Description

Nearly half of trade agreements concluded in the past five years included either a labor chapter or labor provision that makes reference to international labor standards and ILO instruments. The evidence so far suggests that labor provisions have been an important tool for raising awareness and improving laws and legislations with respect to workers' rights, increasing stakeholder involvement in negotiation and implementation phases, and developing domestic institutions to better monitor and enforce labor standards. But challenges remain, particularly with respect to sustainability of impacts, coherence, and cooperative efforts. This new report, part of the Studies on Growth with Equity series, gives a full examination of the scope and effectiveness of these labor provisions.




Core Labour Standards and International Trade


Book Description

This book examines the labour standards provisions in a number of Regional and Bilateral Trade Agreements, and assesses the potential of using the relevant clauses in these trade agreements as a benchmark for a multilateral approach. Based on the lessons learned from the Regional model, the book proposes a Global Labour and Trade Framework Agreement (GLTFA) combined with a joint ILO/WTO enforcement mechanism to resolve the contentious issue of the link between the CLS and international trade. The history of the linkage between the Core Labour Standards (CLS) and international trade dates back roughly 150 years, and has recently become one of the most vexing issues facing policy-makers. At the heart of the debate is the question whether or not trade sanctions should be imposed on countries that do not respect the CLS as embodied in multilateral conventions administered by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Concretely, this would entail inserting a social clause in the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and would trigger the imposition of sanctions on those countries that do not adhere to the CLS.




Foreign Direct Investment and Human Development


Book Description

The effect on developing countries of the arrival of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been a subject of controversy for decades in the development community. The debate over the relationship between FDI in developing countries and the progress of these countries towards human development is an ongoing and often heated one. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective combining insights from international investment law, human rights law and economics, this book offers an original contribution to the debate. It explores how improvements ...




OECD Employment Outlook 2008


Book Description

This 2008 edition of OECD's annual report on labour markets brings the reader detailed information on recent labour market developments, as well as in-depth analysis of the effects of various policy measures and prospects through 2009.







Policy Framework for Investment A Review of Good Practices


Book Description

This Review of Good Practices is published as a companion volume to the OECD Policy Framework for Investment and provides analytical background material on each of the ten chapters of the Framework.




Regulating Foreign Direct Investment for Development


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulation and sustainable development in Bangladesh. It is widely accepted that FDI-induced development is essential for the growth of undeveloped economies, but it can create a conflict between the investors' goal of profit maximisation and the host state's pursuit of economic gains. FDI-induced development is especially important for the economy of Bangladesh, the focus of this book, which argues that a balanced regulatory approach is necessary to ensure that FDI benefits all stakeholders. In examining Bangladesh's FDI regulatory regime, the authors reveal that it is investor-centric and lacks a development-oriented approach. They discuss the relevant laws, practices, mechanisms, and institutions that govern the entrance regulations and incentives for foreign investment, as well as the protection of the environment and human rights, with special attention to labour rights, involuntary displacement, and the protection of both the investors and the state in which they invest. From this analysis, the book recommends reforms to introduce development as a primary goal while maintaining Bangladesh's appeal as an FDI destination. The book will be of interest to researchers, students, and academics in the fields of economics, politics, sustainable development, and economic growth. It will also be of great interest to FDI strategists, policymakers, negotiators, administrators, and legislators in creating a balanced regulatory regime to attract FDIs for development.




The Handbook of Globalisation, Third Edition


Book Description

The past 30 years are often depicted as an era of globalisation, and even more so with the recent rise of global giants such as Google and Amazon. This updated and revised edition of The Handbook of Globalisation offers novel insights into the rapid changes our world is facing, and how best we can handle them.




The Human Right to Development in a Globalized World


Book Description

Offering a comprehensive analysis of the human right to development and its realistic application in an era of economic globalization, Daniel Aguirre provides a multidisciplinary overview of economic globalization and examines its challenges to the realization of human development. He takes this further by engaging with these challenges and highlighting the human rights opportunities presented by economic globalization and the international investment system. The volume proposes a triadic system of responsibility for human rights in development, to include mapping the overlapping human rights responsibilities of corporations at the micro-level, of states at the macro-level and of the international community at the meso-level. The scope of the book is broad and the approach to the subject is new. It will generate interest across many disciplines including political science, international law and economics. Activists, academics and development practitioners in many fields should also read this book.