The institutional structure of global commodity chains and cross-border production networks has a profound impact on how the benefits of globalized production are distributed. This paper engages with this issue by developing a model that combines the insights of earlier unequal exchange...

When we speak of the impact of globalization on national and local economies, those economies are actually composed of a wide variety of individuals, each class of whom will be effected differently by large-scale economic forces. In this paper, produced for the U.N.'s International Labour...

In December 2010, the FAO food price index surpassed its previous peak of June 2008, and prices have been maintained at this high level through September 2011 (i.e. as of this writing). This pattern in food prices is creating justified fears of a renewal or intensification of the global food...

This paper explores the intersections between the current trajectory of globalization, changes to the structure of employment, and policies for maintaining opportunities for decent employment. There are numerous outcomes of these interactions, including higher levels of open unemployment, growth...

Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, faces many challenges. But recent political stability, debt cancellation, and a strong developmental plan for the future embedded in the Madagascar Action Plan – in addition to Madagascar's long-standing advantages of great mineral and...

This paper provides some empirical evidence on issues raised by the global antisweatshop movement. We first consider the relationship between wage and employment growth, finding no consistent trade-off between them. We then measure the share of labor costs in the production of garments in the...

"Expanding Decent Employment in Kenya: The Role of Monetary Policy, Inflation Control and the Exchange Rate” is the first installment of the forthcoming full-scale study, An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya by Robert Pollin and James Heintz of PERI and Mwangi Githinji of the...

What are the factors that make for a decent work environment and how do the conditions of work vary in different parts of the United States? To address these and similarly important questions in a clear and accessible way, we have developed a new approach for measuring the work environment on a...

In this study for the International Labour Organization, requested by the Liberian government, James Heintz undertakes a rapid assessment of the impact of the global economic crisis on Liberia, where years of civil war, conflict and instability have left the country’s 3.5 million people...

This paper explores the distributional effects of contractionary monetary policy by race and gender in the U.S. from 1979-2008 using state-level panel data. We hypothesize that women and Blacks, as groups with less power and lower status in the social hierarchy, fare worse in the competition...