Moving People to Deliver Services (Trade and Development) [Paperback]

Aaditya Mattoo (Editor), Antonia Carzaniga (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2003 | ISBN-10: 082135406X | ISBN-13: 978-0821354063

The WTO is today dealing with an issue that lies at the interface of two major challenges the world faces, trade liberalization and international migration. Greater freedom for the "temporary movement of individual service suppliers" is being negotiated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Conditions in many developed economies—ranging from aging populations to shortages of skilled labor—suggest that this may be a propitious time to put labor mobility squarely on the negotiating agenda. Yet there is limited awareness of how the GATS mechanism can be used to foster liberalization in this area of services trade. At the same time there is great concern, about the possible social disruption in host countries and brain drain from poor countries. As a first step in improving our understanding of the implications of such liberalization, this volume brings together contributions from service providers, regulators, researchers and trade negotiators. They provide different perspectives on one central question: how is such liberalization best accomplished, in a way that benefits both home and host countries? The result, combining insights from economics, law and politics, is bound to be a vital input into the WTO services negotiations as well as the broader debate on the subject.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: World Bank Publications (June 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082135406X
• ISBN-13: 978-0821354063
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,407,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars more contentious than moving goods, November 29, 2008

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Moving People to Deliver Services (Trade and Development) (Paperback)

We have all heard about free trade, for the movement of goods and more recently services across national borders. This has generated controvery in many places, but largely it has been accepted. In contrast, this book looks at something far more contentious. The movement of people across borders, in order to perform services. These can be basic manual labour, like migrant workers that pick fruit during a harvest season in the United States. Or it can be white collar professionals. For this, think of finance types moving to London or New York.

The book describes efforts to maximise both types of labour mobility. Migration policies of several key developed countries are explained, including US, New Zealand and Australia. The migrations described here are meant to be temporary, at least in principle.

What is generally true is that for those people with high levels of education, and looking for jobs that use this education, migration is far easier than for unskilled labourers. And broadly, there are fewer problems in the accepting countries about skilled intakes.