Labor and Social Policy in Globalizing Economy Fall, 2011

Prof. Park, Se-Il

Course Description:

The purpose of the course is two-fold. The first is to investigate the impact of globalization on labor market, industrial relations, income distribution, education, and social welfare system. The second is to examine what government’s policy, including labor and training policies, and education and social policies, will best serve to make globalizationmore successful and beneficial to all people, especially to the least advantaged in the society.

Expectation

This course will be conducted as a graduate level seminar. At the beginningof each class, students will present their views and opinions to the pre-assigned topics of the day in a presentation which will be then followed byclass discussion by all students. At the end of each class, major findings and conclusions will be wrapped up by instructor. So every student is expected to have read the reference books and related articles before coming to class and to participateactivelyin the class discussion.

Evaluation Methods

Class participation (40%) and Final Exam (60%)

Reference Books:

  1. 박세일: 창조적 세계화론: Korea’s Creative Globalization Strategy, 서울대 출판사 2010. pp. 267-391, 477-500
  2. Any intermediate level textbook of International Economics and Labor Economics.
  3. Dani Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far? Institute for International Economics, 1997, pp.1-27/69-85
  4. Thoedore H. Moran, Beyond Sweatshops Brookings Institution, 2002, pp.108-165
  5. Toke Aidt and Zafiris Tzannatos, Unions and Collective Bargaining The World Bank, 2002, pp.1-38
  6. Kimberly Ann Elliott and Richard B. Freeman, Can Labor Standards improve Under Globalization? Institute of International Economics, 2003, pp.1-25/49-109/127-139
  7. A World Bank Policy Research Report, Globalization, Growth, and Poverty, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.1-7/ 31-51
  8. Michael M. Weinstein. Globalization: What's New, Columbia University Press, 2005, pp 96-128
  9. Ethan B. Kapstein, Sharing Wealth, Norton, 1999, pp.7-91/124-184
  10. Charles Derber, People Before Profit, St. Martin,s Press, 2002, pp.1-21/143-198/234-283
  11. Robert Reich, The Work of Nations, Knopf, 1991, pp.171-240
  12. Robert Reich, The Future of Success, Knopf. 2000, pp. 51-107
  13. Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002, Chapter 1,3,4, 12,13
  14. Jeremy Rifkin, The End of Work , Tarcher Putman, 1995, pp.221-293
  15. Ulrich Beck, The Brave New World of Work, Polity, 2000, pp.1-66/121-179
  16. Peter Auer, Employment Revival in Europe, ILO, 2000, pp.35-111
  17. Paul Osterman, etc. Working in America: A Blue Print for New Labor Market, MIT press, 2001.
  18. Thomas L. Friedman:The World is Flat, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005
  19. Park, Se-il, Generating Upward Mobility: The Case of Korea and Private Sector Development from 1962 to 2000, SIAS Working Paper Series, No. 2002-01, June 2002 ----Major parts of the paper appear in the Gary Fields and Guy Pfeffermann edited, Pathways Out of Poverty, International Finance Corporation/World Bank Group, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003

Topics to be discussed

1: INTRODUCTION: ON TRADE

Why do people trade with each other?

Compare between Ricardo Model and Heckscher-Ohlin Model.

What are the determinants of inter-industry trade and of intra-industry trade?

Explain what the Factor Price EqualizationTheorem is.

Why canfree trade bean engine of growth?

When does protectionism become a rational argument against free trade and when does it not?

Compare export-promotion policy with import substitution policy.

2:INTRODUCTION: ON LABOR

How is the demand for labor determined?

How is the supply of labor determined?

How arethe wages and employment determined differently between both LDCs (less developed countries) and DCs (developed countries)?

What isthe elasticity of demand for labor? Why is it an important concept?

What is the impact of union on wage and employment?

What is the impact of minimum wage on wage level and employment?

Define unemployment, underemployment, and employment rate?

3: IMPACT OF FREE TRADE ON LABOR MARKET

What is the impact of trade on wage and employment?

What is the impact of trade on industrial relations (or union’s strength)?

Does globalization (free trade) improve the welfare of workers or deteriorate them? When does it improve and when does it not?

What have been the labor market consequences (wage, employment and income inequality) of economic development (trade expansion) in Korea for the past 4 decades?

4: IMPACT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT ON LABOR MARKET

What is the impact of FDI on jobs and working conditions in developing countries (host countries)?

What is the impact of FDI on jobs and working conditions in developed countries (home countries)?

Under what conditionscan FDI help the host country developsuccessfully? And under what conditionscan FDI damage the economy of host country?

5: EFFECT OF LABOR LAW UNDER GLOBALIZATION

Whatare the social and economic effects of labor standards lawin the age of globalization?

What are the social and economic effects oflabor union in the globalizing economy?

Can the global labor standards improve the welfare of workers in LDCs?

Does anti-sweatshop campaign in developed countries help the workers in LDCs?

Are free trade policy and labor standards law complementing or competing against each other to improve the welfare of workers in LDCs?

6: EFFECT OF GLOBALIZATION ON INOCME INEQUITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Hasglobal income inequality been rising or falling or has there been no significant change?

What has been the impact of globalization on inter-country inequalitiesas well as on intra-country inequalities?

What are the major underlying reasons for rising and falling income inequalities in the globalizing economy?

What is effect of globalization on social welfare levelas well as the welfare system of individual state?

7: GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

How to reconcile economic growth with social justice, i.e. improved welfare of the working people?

How has this reconciliationbeen possible in the past 20th century and how it has become increasingly difficult in the coming 21st century?

What should we do to achieve political stability, economic growth, and social justice simultaneously in the coming 21stcentury?

Is global democracy a pragmatic and realistic option or just an empty rhetoric?

8: PROSPECTS OF FUTURE JOB MARKET AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM

8-1: FUTURE JOB MARKET

As globalization proceeds, what kind of jobs will be on the rise and what jobs will be on the decline? And why?

8-2: EDUCATIONAL REFORM

What kind of educational reform is needed to cope with the globalization challenge successfully?

9: LABOR MARKET PESSIMISM

How serious will the decline of jobs(so-called jobless economy) be in the coming high-tech age? What is the best policy to deal with it?

How serous is the marginalization of employment(rising atypicaland unstable jobs)? What is the best policy to cope with it?

10: LABOR MARKET OPTIMISM

Under what policy package have some European countries (Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and Netherland) succeeded in achieving both good economic record and improved social welfare?

Is so called‘Flexicurity (Flexibility+ Security) Policy’, developed in Western Europe, a realistic policy option to other DCs? Can it be transferable even to LDCs?

11: BLUPRINT FOR NEW INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEM

What are the old assumptions underlying the old industrial relations system,that prevailed during the 20th century?

What are the changes in the world of work which requirenew industrial relations system in the coming century?

Whatshould be the new roles of major actorsin the labor market, such as employers, unions, and the government, in the coming age of globalization?

12: DEVELOPMENT AND LABOR POLICY IN FLAT WORLD

How can an individual get most out of globalization?

How can a nation state make best out of globalization?

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