INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS The Economic Rationale for International Labor Rights CHRISTOPH SCHERRER December 2015 n Most of workers’ and human rights violations persist in the global South. Therefore, the debate about international workers’ rights revolves primarily around enforcing social standards in developing countries. n As countries in the global South operate on the same level of industrial development and similar market positions by offering cheap labor, the strict adherence to core workers’ rights will put them at a comparative disadvantage vis-à-vis its competitors. n This situation is the very reason why developing countries are limited in their ability to raise labor standards on their own. The author will argue that developing coun­tries cannot raise their social standards in isolation but only in conjunction with other countries, by multilateral agreement.