What Is Social Dumping?

Social dumping means that a high-wage industrialized country imports relatively cheap foreign products, and these products are cheap because the exporting country does not provide reasonable wages, benefits, and other protections for workers.

Social dumping

The original meaning refers to the use of prisoner's labor or other hard labor to produce products, which can be sold abroad at extremely low prices.

By using cheap and unprotected labor, exporting countries are able to sell products in industrialized countries at prices well below the average market price, which poses social problems "

society

Solving social dumping needs to be carried out within the framework of global governance. The above analysis of the logical contradiction of the "social dumping theory" implies the conclusion that relying on the trade sanctions proposed by the "social dumping theory", it is not only impossible to solve the problem of social dumping, but it may also make the problem reverse Orientation will even lead to the collapse of the "fragile globalization" system.

For developing countries, lower labor standards, especially child labor, are related to poverty. Developed countries have strong economic and technological strength. They often have large populations, low levels of productivity, and simple equipment for work and labor. If rich countries insist on the unification of labor standards and other systems, and adhere to environmental issues as a prerequisite for market access, The competitive advantage of cheap labor costs in developing countries will be lost, and the prospect of trade growth between North and South will be very bleak. This in turn will affect the development of developing countries, failing to strengthen their economic strength, and eventually lead to their economic and social conditions may deteriorate further. Enforcing a consistent "social clause" will inevitably interfere with free international trade, reduce the opportunities for developing countries to benefit from the development of international trade, and ultimately affect the development of developing countries, further transforming the problem to the opposite.

For developed countries, the principle of comparative advantage has clearly demonstrated that there are differences in comparative advantage among countries, and participating in international trade with their respective comparative advantages can increase the overall level of welfare and be beneficial to both sides of the trade. From a consumption perspective, importing cheaper products from developing countries is equivalent to raising the real income level of consumers in developed countries. Therefore, blindly weakening the labor cost advantage of developing countries will not only harm the interests of developing countries, but will also damage the interests of developed countries themselves. As the famous scholar Baghwati said, trying to kill two birds with one stone (trade treaties and mechanisms) (social progress and further freedom of trade) may get nothing.

The uneven development of economic globalization has produced various accompanying phenomena such as the widening gap between the North and the South, and the intensification of labor-management conflicts. They are interconnected and mutually restrained. Any partial and one-sided solution to the problem cannot be cured The purpose is the same for social dumping. The root cause of the problem of social dumping is the intensification of labor-capital contradictions. To solve the problem of social dumping, we should start with restricting capital forces. However, in the modern international division of labor system, the production of labor-intensive products is mostly concentrated in developing countries with low labor standards. Although the large multinational companies are from developed countries, the main body of the WTO s disputes is the government. Also made for the government. Therefore, if trade sanctions are used to resolve social dumping alone, the relevant multinational companies will not be punished, and these investors may withdraw their investment from developing countries, which not only harms the interests of the people in developing countries, but also The desire to constrain capital was completely lost. Therefore, the improvement of labor standards and the solution of social dumping issues can only be achieved through economic development, not trade sanctions.

In short, the core issue of social dumping is the relevant social responsibility standards, such as labor standards. In the long run, all countries must implement uniform and higher labor standards to reflect the civilization and progress of society. But this is just a struggle goal. The realization of this goal needs to be carried out step by step. Otherwise, the speed may not be reached. Developing countries, including China, must continuously improve domestic standards and actively and steadily promote the integration of international labor standards and social responsibility standards. On the other hand, they must also take necessary measures to prevent trading partner countries. Abuse of labor standards, social provisions, etc. is required for trade protection.

The problem of social dumping is an inevitable product of the uneven development of economic globalization that is market-based and capital-centric. Therefore, the solution of social dumping must be carried out within the overall framework of global governance.