tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post380982791199636765..comments2024-03-28T09:22:36.967+13:00Comments on Offsetting Behaviour: Safety preferencesEric Cramptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-44620384948462104872013-05-03T08:47:17.354+12:002013-05-03T08:47:17.354+12:00Yeah, but you can also make the argument that if e...Yeah, but you can also make the argument that if everybody's fully informed about the floor, then they should be able to contract around it.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-86433561343348379012013-05-03T03:50:35.583+12:002013-05-03T03:50:35.583+12:00"you want the retailers not to be enforcing m..."you want the retailers not to be enforcing minimum safety floors but rather to be providing accurate information to workers about real safety risks and about safety conditions in other potential places of employment. "<br /><br />You may not want them enforcing global safety floors. But I would think that enforcing the floor provided by local regulation would be relatively independent of the Western-wishful-thinking problem, so there's not an obvious problem with Western retailers acting to (help) enforce the relevant local safety standards.Fnordnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-1064813536661253722013-05-02T13:23:19.291+12:002013-05-02T13:23:19.291+12:00I'm assuming zero negotiating ability on the p...I'm assuming zero negotiating ability on the part of the workers. Say that every company makes take-it-or-leave-it offers and that no worker has huge expectations of that he'll get lots of offers. Suppose that workers will be happy taking a $1 pay cut in order to get another unit of safety. If it takes less than $1 to provide that unit of safety, then the company that offers the bundle with lower pay and more safety gets its pick of workers. And once we're at equilibrium, people have sorted across firms offering different safety/wage bundles. As you've noted, migrants expect to be better off by moving to the city; they could choose to stay in the country. The bundle they're then choosing has to be one that's preferred to the reversion option. <br /><br />What breaks it is if employers are chiseling on the level of safety that they're actually providing.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-25542139326049995782013-05-01T22:43:43.693+12:002013-05-01T22:43:43.693+12:00I'm saying that if garment industry work is th...I'm saying that if garment industry work is their best option then surely they aren't in a position to negotiate better conditions. This really hinges on how scarce workers are. I looked into the statistics briefly but the grey market obfuscates accurate employment numbers.<br /><br />Most of the garment workers are young migrants from rural areas (90% are women, who have limited job options in rural areas). They send remittances back to their families so it follows that they must be able to communicate too. So I don't think they are moving in error.Jack Thompsonhttp://www.facebook.com/jthompson.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-24006076318205387312013-05-01T14:09:47.629+12:002013-05-01T14:09:47.629+12:00Are you hanging the case on that people make error...Are you hanging the case on that people make errors in moving to the city in the first place and word not getting back to others in the countryside?Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-55031206977256164522013-05-01T13:25:00.416+12:002013-05-01T13:25:00.416+12:00If rising urbanisation brings a lot of workers to ...If rising urbanisation brings a lot of workers to cities in Bangladesh (as in China and other developing nations) and sweatshop work is one of the best available jobs then surely the pool of willing workers is greater than the number of positions (hence the low wages). Given all of this, is it really fair to assume that worker preferences have much influence over the job market?Jack Thompsonhttp://www.facebook.com/jthompson.nznoreply@blogger.com