On sweatshop jobs and decent work

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chau, Nancy H.
• 署名单位: Cornell University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.02.002
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 120-134
• 关键词: Sweatshops; EFFICIENCY; Job search capability

摘要

This paper argues that while rooting out sweatshop conditions raises unemployment, the potential gains include an increase in decent work employment, a pro-worker shift in distribution, and an improvement in overall efficiency. In a search model of employment inspired by firm- and household-level evidence about the harm that sweatshop conditions pose to workers' capability to be productive at work and to be vertically mobile, this paper unpacks the irony of job losses and efficiency gains by examining equilibria where, unless regulations are in place, employers tolerate unproductive sweatshop conditions, and where workers accept insufficiently compensating sweatshop wages. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.