Labor Politics In IMF Labor Conditionality

In the context of the economic crisis of the 1990 s,the IMF provided loans to South Korea and Argentina.South Korea received less intrusive labor-related conditions in its International Monetary Fund(IMF)loan conditions,while Argentina received more intrusive IMF conditionality.To explain the variance in IMF loan conditionality,great attention has been paid to the power of labor to bargain with its government,which can be measured by its negotiation environment,organizational strength,and structural strength.Specially speaking,the negotiation environment of labor can be measured by the degree of democratization;the organizational strength of labor can be measured by the power of domestic labor unions;the structural strength of labor can be measured by domestic industrial structure,and compared with labor in countries whose leading industry is labor-intensive,the labor in countries where the technology-intensive industry is the leading industry enjoys greater structural strength.A comparative study between South Korea and Argentina revealed that with a higher degree of democratization,stronger labor union,and greater labor structure forces,South Korea obtained funds under revised IMF labor market loan conditions;however,due to its low degree of democratization,limited union power,and weaker labor structure forces,Argentina received money under the intrusive IMF labor market loan conditionality.