Globalization and the Right to Free Association and strongCollectivestrong.pdfVIP

World Development Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 31–49, 2006 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain /locate/worlddev 0305-750X/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2005.06.009 Globalization and the Right to Free Association and Collective Bargaining: An Empirical Analysis ERIC NEUMAYER London School of Economics and Political Science, UK and * INDRA DE SOYSA Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway Summary. — Economies that are more open to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) face greater competitive pressure than closed ones. Globalization critics are concerned that this pressure induces countries to lower labor standards in order to remain competitive and retain or attract for- eign investment. Defenders of globalization counter that countries that are more closely integrated into global markets are likely to have higher rather than lower standards. This article tests the effect of globalization on a specific labor right, which forms part of what are commonly regarded as core or fundamental labor standards. Employing a new measure of free association and collective bar- gaining rights, we find that countries that are more open to trade have fewer rights violations than more closed ones. This effect holds in a global sa