Kaushik Basu

Judith Shapiro

Lisa Roman

Henrik Horn

This book addresses the controversial call for international labor standards, seeking to productively further this debate by considering the economic implications and history of these standards. A result of an initiative by Professor Kaushik Basu in his capacity as member of the Expert Group of Development Issues (EGDI) sponsored by the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the contributions are based on discussions at a seminar held in Stockholm in August 2001. Compiling the best research in the field, this book provides a solid basis for policy decisions, while also serving as a challenging text for students in trade, development, and labor economics. Analyzes the economic implications and history of international labor standards. Productively furthers the debate about intervening with international labor standardsStems from a seminar organized through the Expert Group on Development Issues (EGDI), sponsored by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

History, Theory, and Policy Options

International Labor Standards

Lisa Román

The ongoing transformation of centrally planned societies into market economies poses many difficult questions regarding large-scale institutional reform - How far to go, how fast, and in which order? Financial intermediation is one sector in which the gap between socialism and capitalism is particularly large, and the development of commercial banking has often proved to be a bottleneck in the reform process. Institutions in Transition explores the development of the Vietnamese state banks, focusing on the situation in the early 1990s. It highlights the lengthy process of altering the formal and informal rules governing the bank organizations. The prevailing socialist ideology implies that state ownership remains, enabling the government to intervene in banks' operations. The ideology's informal role is arguably even more important, because it leaves unclear how bankers should act when profit maximization conflicts with social responsibility. In the period of transition formal and informal rules are unclear. Uncertainty prevails as long as bankers and banking authorities have only partially converted to a new set of norms. Accordingly, the formal financial sector fails to flourish.

Lisa Roman

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