Why do people dislike low-wage trade competition with posted workers in the service sector?

Arbeitspapier

The issue of low-wage competition in services trade involving posted workers is controversial in the EU. Using Swedish survey data, people's attitudes are found to be more negative to such trade than to goods trade. The differences depend on both a preference for favouring social groups to which individuals belong (here the domestic population) and altruistic justice concerns for foreign workers. In small-group experiments we find a tendency for people to adjust their evaluations of various aspects of trade to their general attitude. This tendency is stronger for those opposed to than those in favour of low-wage trade competition. This may indicate that the former group forms its attitudes in a less rational way than the latter group.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3842

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Trade and Labor Market Interactions ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
• Subject: services trade ; posted workers ; wage regulations ; attitude formation ; Niedriglohn ; Meinung ; Internationaler Dienstleistungsverkehr ; Internationale Arbeitsmobilität ; Internationaler Wettbewerb ; Schweden

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Calmfors, Lars ; Dimdins, Girts ; Gustafsson Sendén, Marie ; Montgomery, Henry ; Stavlöt, Ulrika
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/61016
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET