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A Race to the Bottom? Employment Protection and Foreign Direct Investment

Abstract

A common critique of globalization is that it leads to a race to the bottom. This hypothesis assumes that multinationals invest in countries with lower regulatory standards and that countries competitively undercut each other?s standards in response. This paper finds empirical evidence of both propositions. First, a reduction in employment protection rules leads to an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI). Not surprisingly, changes in employment protection legislation have a larger impact on the relatively mobile types of FDI. Second, there is evidence that countries are competitively undercutting each other?s labor market standards.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, Williams College in its series Department of Economics Working Papers with number 2011-02.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2010
Date of revision: Jan 2012
Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2011-02
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Keywords: foreign direct investment; employment protection; race to the bottom;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
  • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
  • J8 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards

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Cited by:

  1. Mogab, J. & Kishan, R. & Vacaflores, D.E., 2013. "Labor Market Rigidity And Foreign Direct Investment: The Case Of Europe," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(1), pages 35-54.
  2. Blanchard, Emily J., 2014. "What global fragmentation means for the WTO: Article XXIV, behind-the-border concessions, and a new case for WTO limits on investment incentives," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2014-03, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
  3. Johannes Becker & Ronald B. Davies, 2013. "Learning and international policy diffusion: the case of corporate tax policy," Working Papers 1319, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
  4. Niklas Potrafke, 2013. "Globalization and Labor Market Institutions: International Empirical Evidence," Ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Paper No. 154, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  5. Häberli, Christian & Jansen, Marion & Monteiro, José-Antonio, 2012. "Regional trade agreements and domestic labour market regulation," ILO Working Papers 470016, International Labour Organization.
  6. Escobari, Diego & Vacaflores, Diego, 2014. "Expectations and the Dynamic Feedback between Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 58657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  7. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, . "Labor Standards and Human Rights: Implications for International Trade and Investment," Working Papers 622, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
  8. Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Duanmu , Jing-Lin & Skedinger, Per, 2012. "Employment Protection and Multinational Enterprises: Theory and Evidence from Micro Data," Working Paper Series 935, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  9. Gerda Dewit & Holger Görg & Yama Temouri, 2013. "Employment Protection and Relocation with Firm Heterogeneity," Economics, Finance and Accounting Department Working Paper Series n234-13.pdf, Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.

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