Do Labour Rights Matter for Export? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Pineapple Trade to the EU

• Main Authors: Annelien Gansemans, Deborah Martens, Marijke D’Haese, Jan Orbie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cogitatio 2017-12-01
• Series: Politics and Governance
• Subjects: agricultural trade; globalisation; institutions; labour rights; political economy; QCA
• Online Access: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1082

Labour norms are increasingly considered in trade relations, but is the protection of labour standards a necessary condition for export to the EU? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis, based on countries that export pineapples to the EU, shows that labour standards protection matters in combination with distance, zero tariffs and institutional quality in a number of cases. However, for none of the cases was it a sufficient condition on its own for determining exports to the European market. Rather, we show that (1) having a zero tariff is necessary for a relatively large share of export to the EU, and (2) labour standards protection can make a difference when the institutional quality is weak in some African cases, in contrast to Latin American exporters.