There is growing pressure on multinational enterprises to implement 'responsible sourcing' requirements for their suppliers in low- and middle-income countries. These include minimum standards on working conditions, such as wage floors, limits on hours worked, and safety standards. This column studies the impact of responsible sourcing policies in Costa Rica. Theoretically, it argues that responsible sourcing has ambiguous effects on workers. Empirically, it finds that exposed workers benefit, but with adverse knock-on effects on those not directly exposed to responsible sourcing standards.

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20 December 2022

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Vox EU

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https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/responsible-sourcing-theory-and-evidence-costa-rica

This Blog is published under the centre's Trade programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Global firms, Inequality: Winners and losers