Labor and politics

Lectures: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session

This graduate research and reading seminar examines an array of issues facing labor in today’s global world. The premise of this course is that recent developments (e.g., globalization, liberalization, privatization, etc.) have created a mix of opportunities and risks for labor in most developing countries. On the one hand, these trends have encouraged foreign direct investment and the diffusion of global supply chains, which in turn, have promoted economic development and job growth for some groups of workers in some of these countries. On the other hand, globalization and liberalization have undermined social safety nets, eroded labor and environmental standards, and resulted in greater rates of poverty for other groups of workers in other developing countries. How do we explain these differences? What kinds of policies can be promoted to more evenly distribute the benefits of globalization? This course seeks to address these two questions.

Rodrik, Dani. Has globalization gone too far? Washington, DC: Institute of International Economics, 1997. ISBN: 9780881322415.

Sen, Amartya Kumar. Development as freedom. New York, NY: Knopf, 1999. ISBN: 9780375406195.

Grading for this course is based on the following assignments.

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