The Political Power of Organized Labor and the Politics of Foreign Direct Investment in Developed Democracies

Abstract

How does organized labor shape restrictions on inward foreign direct investment (FDI)? Distributional consequences, drawn from heterogeneous firms theory, suggest that although inward FDI benefits a subset of workers, a greater number of workers is hurt by inward FDI, leading labor in the aggregate to support restrictions on inward FDI. I argue that the political power of labor is determined by the position of labor vis-à-vis other actors in society and the unity of labor’s policy preferences. The share of the labor force that is unionized determines the relative importance of labor interests, while union concentration determines whether the aggregate policy position of organized labor is unified or fragmented. In an analysis of 19 developed countries from 1971 and 2000, I find evidence that greater union density leads to more restrictions on inward investment when unions are concentrated.

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