Evaluating the effectiveness of labour provisions in trade agreements - an analytical framework

Abstract

This paper provides an analytical and methodological framework for examining the concept of effectiveness in the context of labour provisions in trade agreements. The main contribution of this article is to develop a sophisticated and multi-disciplinary concept of effectiveness of labour provisions in trade agreements. Labour provisions should be considered to be a multifaceted ‘policy mix’. While examining the process of how impact is brought about, a differentiation should be made between proximate (mostly legal, institutional and political) and distant (mostly socio-economic) outcomes. A mixed method approach that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to evaluate effectiveness of labour provisions is suggested. We propose an analytical framework that is illustrated by a set of indicative case studies. The paper highlights that different elements of labour provisions can have effects on what we term ‘capacity’ in various shapes and levels, including the capacities of states, civil society actors and firms. In turn, such improvements in capacity can contribute to outcomes in the form of strengthened legal frameworks and domestic institutions, increased civil society advocacy and increased compliance at the level of firms. We argue that labour provisions are usually aimed at generating proximate outcomes before contributing to more distant outcomes, such as the improvement of labour rights and working conditions. For the design of labour provisions as a policy tool, this means that in specific trade agreements, the various elements of labour provisions should be used in a manner that effectively target those aspects of capacity that are seen as deficient and which are considered to most likely have an impact on labour rights and working conditions. Our framework implies that the effectiveness of labour provisions can be analysed with respect to different aspects of the process, e.g. with respect to different types of capacity, or with respect to the ultimate target – the improvement of working conditions and labour rights. In terms of methods, effectiveness of labour provisions can be measured and evaluated using quantitative or qualitative methods, depending on the particular aspect of capacity that is of interest as an outcome, and depending on the type of available data on capacity, working conditions and labour rights.