Odd Couple : International Trade and Labor Standards in History

by Michael Huberman

• ISBN13: 9780300158700
• ISBN10: 030015870X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2012-05-29
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

It has become commonplace to think that globalization has produced a race to the bottom in terms of labor standards and quality of life: the cheaper the labor and the lower the benefits afforded workers, the more competitively a country can participate on the global stage. But in this book the distinguished economic historian Michael Huberman demonstrates that globalization has in fact been very good for workers' quality of life, and that improved labor conditions have promoted globalization.

Author Biography

Michael Huberman is professor of history at the University of Montreal.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
The Virtuous Circle of Trade and the Labor Compact	p. 1
How Globalization Caused the Labor Compact
Challenge and Response	p. 25
Markets and States in Old and New Worlds	p. 49
International Labor Standards: Ideas or Trade Based?	p. 65
How the Labor Compact Made Globalization
Did the Labor Compact Reduce Inequality?	p. 87
Did Labor Standards Harm or Benefit Trade?	p. 117
The Labor Compact in the Long Twentieth Century	p. 139
Vandervelde's Gift	p. 160
Appendix	p. 173
Notes	p. 185
References	p. 203
Index	p. 231
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