> Doug said:
>
>> It's a staple of the antiglobalization literature, at least in the U.S. and
>> other high-income countries: nations and regions compete against each other
>> to see who can offer the most attractive deal to hypermobile capital,
>> resulting in markdowns in wages and environmental/social standards.
>
>
>> Doug
>
> Does this happen?
>
> (I'm wildly guessing you have doubts about it, considering the hesitancy
> you've voiced about globalization in general.)
>
> Todd
>From what I gather, yes, it does happen - though not quite in the simplistic
way suggested. Bronfenbenner (1996) "The effects of Plant Closing or Threat of
Plant Closing on the Right of Workers to Organize": A survey from 1993 through
1995 showed 50% of all firms and 65% of manufacturing firms that were the
target of union organizing campaigns threatened to close down and move, though
only 12% of those which ended up unionized shut up shop. I'm citing from p132
Baker et al "Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy."
The threat, however, is pretty strong (and illegal, I gather.) Unless I have gone awol on my reasoning here, this sort of blackmail is worse overall than actually exporting jobs. Bronfenbenner's figures would suggest that even if moving jobs overseas caused a situation where poor Guatemalans got more out of their new jobs than you lose by having the same job taken away from you, the fact is that the threat to quit sets out to lower your quota of rights and pay without actually giving anyone in Guatemala doodly-squat.
>From general observation, Doug's caveat - that this is a first world antiglobo
thing, is probably right. Threats of factories in Brazil shutting up shop and
moving - where? Guiana - are uncommon, though not unheard of. I guess there is
inelasticity at the bottom end of the wage scale - it's pretty hard to pay your
workers _less_ than a dollar a day.
I should say I am an anthropologist and do not feel confident about this since it doesn't involve either pigs or cowrie shells. Not directly, anyway...
Thiago Oppermann
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