Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe nineteenth century marked the founding period of modern public finance. We examine the domestic and non‐war related determinants of direct taxation in this early democratic period and in a state building context. We argue that the reasons for the expansion of direct taxation can be found in the political competition between different elite groups in the context of industrialization. Systematically differentiating between economic and political arenas, we show that intra‐elite competition in industrializing economies leads to higher levels of direct taxation only if the new economic elites are able to translate their economic power into the political arena, either through the representative system or by extra‐parliamentary means. In addition, we demonstrate that these processes are directly linked to public investments in policy areas related to the interests of new economic elites such as public education. Our analysis is based on novel subnational data from the period 1850 to 1910, enabling us to concentrate on the domestic determinants of direct taxation.

We present a new dataset with 15 indicators for the political, economic and social impact of colonialism. This dataset and our four indices for the impact of colonialism create for the first time the opportunity to compare directly the levels of colonial transformation for a sample of 83 African and Asian countries. Some of our exploratory findings on the interrelation of the dimensions show that in British colonies political domination was in general less direct and less violent. Plantation colonies experienced more investment in infrastructure and more violence during decolonization. The correlations between indicators for economic distortion (trade policy, trade and FDI concentration) show that the economic re-direction of some colonies towards a more exclusive exchange with the metropole country was an interdependent process. In general, a more intense political domination came along with a higher level of economic transformation. If an area was transformed economically, however, a social transformation was likely to take place too, but these processes should not be confounded. In areas that were politically united for the first time under colonialism, economic distortion and social transformation were more profound.

ABSTRACTDespite decades of growing engagement, there are still questions about the effectiveness of transnational private regulation in labour standards to improve employee welfare in global production networks. The literature shows that some improvement may be expected in outcome standards, such as benefits, working time, health and safety issues, but not necessarily in process rights, such as freedom of association, collective bargaining and employment dialogue. Yet, workers need such rights if they are to have a voice and to participate in the organizational processes by which standards may be improved and compliance monitored. The authors of this article contend that the effectiveness of transnational private regulation in labour standards ultimately rests on workers' capacity to act. The article is based on analysis of a cross‐country and cross‐sectoral data set from site‐level surveys of 139 suppliers from Brazil and Kenya in the agricultural, manufacturing and service sectors. The analysis provides no evidence that either the presence of standards at a supplier's site, or the awareness of such standards by workers employed at that site, have an impact on workers' capacity to act. Moreover, the results provide only weak evidence that standards help workers gain influence over matters of relatively minor importance on the agenda of workplace cooperation.

Despite decades of growing engagement, there are still questions about the effectiveness of transnational private regulation in labour standards to improve employee welfare in global production networks. The literature shows that some improvementmay be expected in outcome standards, such as benefits, working time, health and safety issues, but not necessarily in process rights, such as freedom of association, collective bargaining and employment dialogue. Yet, workers need such rights if they are to have a voice and to participate in the organizational processes by which standards may be improved and compliance monitored. The authors of this article contend that the effectiveness of transnational private regulation in labour standards ultimately rests on workers' capacity to act. The article is based on analysis of a cross-country and cross-sectoral data set from site-level surveys of 139 suppliers from Brazil and Kenya in the agricultural, manufacturing and service sectors. The analysis provides no evidence that either the presence of standards at a supplier's site, or the awareness of such standards by workers employed at that site, have an impact on workers' capacity to act. Moreover, the results provide only weak evidence that standards help workers gain influence over matters of relatively minor importance on the agenda of workplace cooperation.

Preamble

The project explores the extent to which transnational private governance affects the capacity of workers to take collective action in pursuit of improvements in employment conditions in developing countries.

Transnational private labour regulation such as corporate codes of conduct and multi-stakeholder standards on labour, environment or human rights claim to respond to the governance deficits that have arisen as a result of the globalization of global production networks. Yet, little consensus exists about the effectiveness of their monitoring and enforcement practices or their ultimate impact.

Context

Since the 1990s, the concern has intensified about the responsibility of businesses in global subcontracting chains for exploitation of labour, inequality, and pollution. Many private transnational regulatory initiatives claim to address this concern by incentivizing multinational companies to voluntary sign up to human rights and environmental standards often referring to, for example, the International Labour Organization's core labour standards. The effectiveness of this approach remains a complex and highly debated issue.

Over the last decade, scholars have studied the emergence, performance and problems related to transnational private labour regulation, their interactions on the transnational level and local level compliance. Stepping back from conventional debates on the overall effectiveness of transnational private governance, the project focuses instead on agency: the effect of transnational private labour regulation on the capacity of those involved, especially workers, to act in local contexts. With our project, we explore how different types of transnational private labour regulation, different national settings and different firm-level contexts of application combine to form what we call transnational hybrid production regimes.

Aim

The study examines how these regimes support workers' collective capacity to take action to improve their own conditions of employment.