The right to a living in the international economy

Donald G. Richards

International Journal of Social Economics, 2003, vol. 30, issue 1, pages 182-198

Abstract: Since the arrival of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 a number of side agreements have also been negotiated that seek further rationalization of the emerging global economy. Prominent among these is the agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS). Enforcement of the TRIPS agreement would involve the multilateral trade sanctions mechanism of the WTO. By contrast, proponents advocating a parallel international agreement guaranteeing adequate protections for workers – trade-related international labor standards (TRILS) – have not met with success. This paper examines how traditional justificatory arguments for the property rights might apply to the question of workers’ rights in the international economy. It is found that such arguments apply quite well to the right of access to a “decent living”. It is then investigated how a TRILS agreement administered and enforced by the WTO's disputes settlements mechanism might advance these rights.

Keywords: Intellectual property; International standards; Labour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=03 ... 847778&show=abstract (text/html)
Cannot be freely downloaded

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:30:y:2003:i:1:p:182-198

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Emerald Group Publishing, Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA, UK
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ijse.htm

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Social Economics is edited by Professor Leslie Armour

More articles in International Journal of Social Economics from Emerald Group Publishing
Series data maintained by Chris Harris ().