China and the Great Doubling: A race to the top or bottom for world labour standards?

Sammanfattning: Through economic openness, increased capital mobility and the resulting competition to innovate, the globalisation of capitalism ought to increase the wealth and living standards of all involved. However, in order for all to be involved, they must be of value to that economy. That the world lives largely in poverty means that the more the economy incorporates cheap labour, the lower the returns to labour will be, as oversupply diminishes its value. Richard Freeman termed this process the Great Doubling, as with the merging of Russia, China and India into the global economy, the world's labour force will more or less be doubled, upsetting the current capital to labour ratio in favour of capital. This research focuses on China's role and examines the extent of its reserve labour supply and its regional impact in order to gauge the implications of China's arrival on the world stage for the capital to labour ratio.