The extent to which low-wage trade competition in the service sector with posted workers should be allowed in the EU has been a hot issue recently. In Sweden, the so-called Vaxholm conflict has become the symbol for this debate.

In a new Sieps report with the title Trade in Services and in Goods with Low-Wage Countries – How Do Attitudes Differ and How Are They Formed? economists and psychologists analyse the attitudes to different types of low-wage trade competition. The results confirm that attitudes to low-wage trade competition in services requiring the posting of foreign workers are more negative than to conventional low-wage trade in goods. Attitude formation seems to have both "rational" and "irrational" components. This holds for both those in favour of low-wage competition in services trade and those against, although the degree of "rationality" appears to be larger for the former group. The report is part of the research project Attitudes to trade in services.

Speakers:
Lars Calmfors, Professor, Stockholm University, Stockholm

Girts Dimdins, Researcher, Stockholm University and Associate Professor, University of Latvia, Riga

Ulrika Stavlöt, Researcher in Economics, SIEPS, Stockholm  

Discussants:
Ingemar Hamskär, Chief Legal Advisor, The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees (TCO), Stockholm

Jonas Milton, CEO, Almega – employer and trade organisation for the Swedish service sector, Stockholm

Claes Stråth, Director-General, National Mediation Office, Stockholm

Chair:
Mats Hallgren, Journalist, Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm  

Time: Freday 13 November 2009 at 09.30 – 11.30
Coffee is served from 09.00
Venue: Medelhavsmuseet, Fredsgatan 2, Stockholm
Registration: info@sieps.se This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it no later than 11 November