IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v22y2011i4p299-312.html

Must improved labor standards hurt accumulation in the targeted sector? Stylized analysis of a developing economy

Author

Listed:
  • Razmi, Arslan

Abstract

This paper analyzes a stylized small open economy that consists of two tradable output-producing sectors: a manufacturing sector and a (mainly tourism-related) services sector. Assuming sectoral differences based on stylized facts, we explore the impact of higher labor standards in the manufacturing sector on the long-term prospects of the economy using comparative dynamic exercises to analyze changes in relative prices, foreign capital flows, and the sectoral distribution of investment and output. We find, in particular, that imposing higher standards across the manufacturing sector could, under certain conditions, shift the structure of the domestic economy in favor of that sector. This result is driven by changes in relative profitability in the presence of learning-by-exporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Razmi, Arslan, 2011. "Must improved labor standards hurt accumulation in the targeted sector? Stylized analysis of a developing economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 299-312.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:22:y:2011:i:4:p:299-312
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2011.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X11000427
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2011.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lall, Sanjaya, 1998. "Erratum: Exports of Manufactures by Developing Countries: Emerging Patterns of Trade and Location," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 168-168, Autumn.
    2. Eswar S. Prasad & Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian, 2007. "Foreign Capital and Economic Growth," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 38(1), pages 153-230.
    3. Busse, Matthias, 2002. "Do transnational corporations care about labour standards?," HWWA Discussion Papers 182, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    4. Drusilla K. Brown, 2000. "International Trade and Core Labor Standards: A Survey of the Recent Literature," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0005, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 2008. "The Real Exchange Rate and Economic Growth," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(2 (Fall)), pages 365-439.
    6. Pedro Martins & Yong Yang, 2009. "The impact of exporting on firm productivity: a meta-analysis of the learning-by-exporting hypothesis," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(3), pages 431-445, October.
    7. Blecker, Robert A., 1996. "The new economic integration: Structuralist models of North-South trade and investment liberalization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 321-345, September.
    8. International Monetary Fund, 2009. "Cambodia: Statistical Appendix," IMF Staff Country Reports 2009/048, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Will Martin & Keith E. Maskus, 2001. "Core Labor Standards and Competitiveness: Implications for Global Trade Policy," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 317-328, May.
    10. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4387 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. International Monetary Fund, 2007. "Cambodia: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix," IMF Staff Country Reports 2007/291, International Monetary Fund.
    12. repec:bla:reviec:v:9:y:2001:i:2:p:317-28 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Maskus, Keith E., 1997. "Should core labor standards be imposed through international trade policy?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1817, The World Bank.
    14. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Exporting raises productivity in sub-Saharan African manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-391, December.
    15. CUYVERS, Ludo & SOENG, Reth & PLASMANS, Joseph & VAN DEN BULCKE, Daniël, 2008. "Productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment in the Cambodian manufacturing sector: Evidence from establishment-level data," Working Papers 2008004, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    16. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4373 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arslan Razmi, 2009. "Must Improved Labor Standards Hurt Accumulation in the Targeted Sector? Stylized Analysis of a Developing Economy," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2009-09, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    2. Arslan Razmi & Gonzalo Hernandez, 2011. "Can Asia Sustain an Export-Led Growth Strategy in the Aftermath of the Global Crisis? An Empirical Exploration," Trade Working Papers 23207, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    3. Jimenez, Gonzalo Hernandez & Razmi, Arslan, 2013. "Can Asia sustain an export-led growth strategy in the aftermath of the global crisis? Exploring a neglected aspect," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 45-61.
    4. Busse, Matthias, 2002. "Do Labor Standards Affect Comparative Advantage in Developing Countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1921-1932, November.
    5. Arslan Razmi, 2021. "Capital inflows, sustained investment surges and the role of external economies of scale in a developing economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 365-387, May.
    6. Philipp Harms & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2013. "The Growth Effects of Greenfield Investment and Mergers and Acquisitions: Econometric Investigation and Implication for MENA Countries," Working Papers 794, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2013.
    7. Mohamed Chaffai & Patrick Plane, 2017. "Firm Productivity, Technology and Export Status, What Can We Learn from Egyptian Industries?," Working Papers 1134, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jun 2017.
    8. Charnikat, Charnikat & Masih, Mansur, 2016. "Granger-causal relationship between real exchange rate and economic growth: Malaysia as a case study," MPRA Paper 108939, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Antonio Cruz & Carol Newman & John Rand & Finn Tarp, 2017. "Learning by Exporting: The Case of Mozambican Manufacturing," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 26(1), pages 93-118.
    10. Antonio Cruz & Carol Newman & John Rand & Finn Tarp, 2017. "Learning by Exporting: The Case of Mozambican Manufacturing," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), vol. 26(1), pages 93-118.
    11. Zhiqi Chen & Afshan Dar‐Brodeur, 2020. "Trade and labour standards: Will there be a race to the bottom?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 916-948, August.
    12. Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci & Carlo Pietrobelli, 2018. "Opening and linking up: firms, GVCs, and productivity in Latin America," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 917-935, April.
    13. Robert A. Blecker & Arslan Razmi, 2010. "Export-led Growth, Real Exchange Rates and the Fallacy of Composition," Chapters, in: Mark Setterfield (ed.), Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Growth, chapter 19, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2022. "Productivity effects of processing and ordinary export market entry: A time‐varying treatments approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 836-853, August.
    15. Neil Foster-McGregor & Anders Isaksson & Florian Kaulich, 2014. "Importing, exporting and performance in sub-Saharan African manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(2), pages 309-336, May.
    16. Gianluca Benigno & Luca Fornaro, 2014. "The Financial Resource Curse," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(1), pages 58-86, January.
    17. Dai Pham & Sarath Delpachitra, 2014. "Does Real Exchange Rate Depreciation Boost Capital Accumulation? An Intertemporal Analysis," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3-4), pages 230-244, December.
    18. Arslan Razmi, 2013. "Correctly Analyzing the Balance of Payments Constraint on Growth," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2013-12, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    19. Drusilla K Brown & Alan V Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2013. "Labor Standards and Human Rights: Implications for International Trade and Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Zdenek Drabek & Petros Mavroidis (ed.), Regulation of Foreign Investment Challenges to International Harmonization, chapter 5, pages 153-195, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2010. "Aid and Conditionality," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4415-4523, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J80 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - General
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:22:y:2011:i:4:p:299-312. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.