eprintid: 75
rev_number: 10
eprint_status: archive
userid: 16
dir: disk0/00/00/00/75
datestamp: 2011-02-16 10:46:19
lastmod: 2011-07-11 13:50:58
status_changed: 2011-02-16 10:46:19
type: monograph
metadata_visibility: show
contact_email: leonardo.baccini@imtlucca.it
item_issues_count: 0
creators_name: Baccini, Leonardo
creators_name: Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias
creators_id: leonardo.baccini@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
title: Why Do States Commit to International Labour Standards?
The Importance of “Rivalry” and “Friendship”
ispublished: pub
subjects: JA
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: none
monograph_type: working_paper
abstract: Ratifying conventions adopted by the International Labour Organization creates legal
obligations to improve labour standards in the domestic economy. Why do states
choose to ratify them? Two influential theoretical approaches offer contrasting
explanations. Rational institutionalist theory expects states to use institutions such as
the ILO to improve or consolidate their preferred standards while reducing the risk of
suffering competitive disadvantages in world markets. In this view, ILO conventions
are devices for the prevention and mitigation of regulatory “races to the bottom”
among trade rivals. By contrast, sociological institutionalism expect states to ratify
ILO conventions if doing so conforms to a norm of appropriate behaviour that is
prevalent in the states’ respective peer groups. The paper develops observable
implications of the two explanations and tests them by applying spatial regression
models to seven core ILO conventions, 187 countries, and 40 years. The paper finds
some evidence in support of both explanations, but sociological institutionalism is
supported more strongly than rational institutionalism.
date: 2010-11
date_type: published
publisher: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Political Science and Political Economy Group 
pages: 48
id_number: LSE PSPE Working Paper 1/2011
official_url: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/PSPE/pdf/PSPE_WP1_11.pdf
citation:   Baccini, Leonardo and Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias  Why Do States Commit to International Labour Standards? The Importance of “Rivalry” and “Friendship”.  Working Paper   The London School of Economics and Political Science, Political Science and Political Economy Group