The Generalized System of Preferences and NGO activism

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fontagne, Lionel; Limardi, Michela
• 署名单位: European Central Bank; Bank of France; Paris School of Economics; Universite de Lille; heSam Universite; Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne; Universite Paris Cite
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103207
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: GSP Labor standards NGOs Wage determination

摘要

Can NGOs contribute to the implementation of Labor Laws in a developing country? We exploit as a quasinatural experiment the renegotiation of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) between the US and Indonesia in 1994, which induced the Indonesian government to raise the level of the legal minimum wage. Using data from Indonesian manufacturing firms, a diff-in-diff analysis and an event study show that the activism of workers' rights groups helped increase firm-level average wages up to the minimum-wage level, not only inside but also outside the export sector. Labor NGO activism helped to implement the new minimum wage standards in a country that lacked strong governmental institutions.