... offers readers a comprehensive analysis both of where things currently stand and of the key policy challenges that attempts at promoting greater doses of labour mobility in a trade policy setting are likely to encounter ... the volume fills an important - and hitherto unoccupied - niche in the burgeoning services literature. It should prove essential reading to all of those interested in seeing the Doha Round meet its development promise in the services field. World Trade Review
Product Description
The World Trade Organization now confronts an issue that lies at the interface of two major world challenges: trade liberalization and international migration. This book breaks new ground by examining the economic, legal, and political implications of the "temporary movement of individual service suppliers" currently being negotiated under the WTO's 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 a limited awareness of how GATS can be used to foster services trade liberalization combined with concerns about the potential for social disruption in host countries and the risk of "brain drain" in poor countries have frustrated efforts to reach a consensus.
Moving People to Deliver Services brings together contributions from service providers, regulators (including ministries of labor and justice), researchers, trade negotiators, and the private sector. They provide a broad range of perspectives on one central question: How can services trade liberalization be accomplished in a way that benefits both home and host countries? The result is a balanced consideration of the issues surrounding WTO labor mobility negotiations at a historically critical juncture.
