Various groups have been demanding that discussions of labor standards be included in all future trade negotiations. The press is full of stories of alleged exploitation of child labor and other employment abuses in developing countries and human rights groups have demanded that something be...

This chapter discusses the provisions in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on the protection of labour and environmental standards and human rights. It first outlines the obligations of the parties to protect labour and environmental standards, human rights and...

The past few decades have witnessed the growth of an exciting debate in the legal academy about the tensions between economic pressures to commodify and philosophical commitments to the market inalienability of certain items. Sex, organs, babies and college athletics are among the many topics...

A corporate governance model built around hierarchical structures, in which authority and empowerment flows through the board of directors to management and eventually staff, and the board is responsible to shareholders (the owners) of a company, worked well in an era of industrial capitalism,...

How do labor standards develop in countries after international labor conventions are ratified? Previous studies suggest that despite high ratification rates, the protection of labor rights is not enhanced. Using panel data on both de jure and de facto labor conditions for 132 countries from...

This paper investigates the impact of labor protection on corporate debt maturity structure. We hypothesize that stronger labor protection is conducive to a greater use of short-term debt maturity by firms. Using various country-level indicators as measures of labor protection, and a sample of...

Using data from 20 OECD countries, we find that firms with greater organization capital have significantly higher stock returns and that this represents an international phenomenon. We also find new evidence that the positive association between organization capital and stock returns increases...

This paper studies the relationship between collective bargaining and mergers and acquisitions activity in 46 countries from the early 1990s. We find that the frequency and volume of mergers and acquisitions within industries increase in countries with powerful labor unions and high coverage of...

This paper analyzes how the unlikely event of an International Framework Agreement between Chiquita and Latin American banana unions came about in 2001. It provides background on IFAs, discusses the terms of the Chiquita-COLSIBA IFA, and analyzes the negotiating positions of the corporate and...

Federal labor law requires employers to give employees a rigid bundle of benefits, including the right to unionize, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation insurance, health insurance, family medical leave, and more. These benefits are not free – benefits cost about one third of wages...