Public Opinion About Trade in the Muslim World

I don't see what this tells you. Just because people in poor countries favor some "standards", doesn't mean that said standards are anything like what people in rich countries want.

I second gecko's point.

A common worker complaint in some developing countries is that promised wages are not actually paid in full, particularly for informal workers (e.g. illegal migrants in China without work/residence permits).

As Carl said, workers may wish for more transparency, i.e. low pages are fine, but consistent wages please.

Considering that most Muslim countries are dictatorships with heavy censorship, government-controlled media, uneducated suppressed women, rigid political correctness, draconian punishment (including beheading) for deviant opinions and high rates of illiteracy, what possible value could be placed on so-called "public opinion."

Certainly wealth is a concern among poor workers but they may be more concerned about living in a trusting society. Measures of transparency, corruption, and trust are all highly correlated with the productivity of nations, so it is difficult to determine if the main concern of poor workers is about compensation or trust. US workers live in a nation with high levels of trust so it seems likely US workers are almost entirely worried about protection from competition and not protection from crime.

Les, I am only marginally surprised at your assessment of "the majority of Muslim countries."

Have you actually BEEN to any of these countries? or are you simply basing your opinions on a preconceived image of the word 'Muslim.'

The trade-off in economic globalization depends on the comparitive economic status of the connected countries and the relative demands for goods. If I were to live in the Grand Duchy of Fenwick, which has little to export and is largely self sustaining, opening my borders to foreign trade could very well devestate the local economy as all money flows out when foreign goods float in.

Question: what exactly is meant by "labor standards" to which the question refered? Minimum wage vs. an open labor market vs. anti-immigration vs. anti/pro-unionization??
each of these has a different economic effect depending on the specifics of the situation. To blanket them as wiping out the benefits of globalization is a bit of a generalization.

An important aspect of labour standards is the prevention of accidents and occupational diseases. Work-related accidents and occupational diseases are extremely costly to many third-world economies because they reduce the labour force, increase the number of unproductive citizens, consume health-care resources and inflict pain on the victims and their families. I believe that great progress can be made on this front at relatively little cost. Currently in China, for example, safety considerations barely enter into the design of industrial plants. Including basic safety measures, like routing electrical cable far from workers, placing covers over moving machinery that is within reach, filtering exhausts, etc. would likely result in net savings to the economy when set off against the costs I outline above. If the government imposes uniform safety standards, much of the equipment required for safety will start to be mass-produced and will consequently fall in price. Consequently it is probably worth while to pay attention to this aspect, at least, of labour standards.

Supporting dictatorship in the name of the "productivity" and justifying it with belief that whole society will eventually benefit from such dictatorship?

I know few skinheads who could like this idea ...