Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements (LABPTA) Codebook and Coding, 1990-2015

Raess, Damian and Sari, Dora (2021). Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements (LABPTA) Codebook and Coding, 1990-2015. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-855014

The LABPTA dataset provides systematic data on the design of labor provisions (LPs) in 492 preferential trade agreements (PTAs) spanning the period 1990-2015. The dataset is the most comprehensive of its kind on two accounts. First, drawing on the DESTA dataset for the underlying treaty texts, it is the most extensive in terms of the number of PTAs covered, including not only agreements that have been notified to the WTO but also agreements that have not. Second, it provides the most detailed coding of LPs in PTAs to date, covering 140 distinct items organized into six overarching categories. We also provide three measures of the stringency of labor-related commitments in PTAs, two measures covering essential dimensions of stringency, namely enforcement and institutional set-up for monitoring, and one overall measure of the depth of LPs. By providing the coding of LPs at the most disaggregated level, the LABPTA dataset bears the promise of greater knowledge integration and accumulation within and across the methodological divides in the literature through a common framework.

Data description (abstract)

The Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements (LABPTA) dataset provides systematic data on the design of labor provisions (LPs) in 492 preferential trade agreements spanning the period 1990-2015. It provides the most comprehensive coding of such provisions to date, covering 140 distinct items organized into six overarching categories, namely: (1) Aspirational statements relating to LPs in preamble and objectives of the agreement (P); 2) Substantive commitments in relation to LPs (S); 3) Obligations in relation to substantive LPs (O); 4) Enforceability of the substantive LPs (E); 5) Cooperation commitments over LPs (C); and 6) Institutions overseeing the labor-related commitments (I).

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Raess Damian	World Trade Institute, University of Bern	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2715-2074
Sari Dora	University of Geneva	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0216-7088