Letter: Global labour market

THE NEED for globalisation of markets in capital and of goods seems to be almost universally accepted these days, and now Diane Coyle ("Why global markets need to be open to free information flows", 1 May) makes a case for the equally free flow of information.

She has some caveats about the human, social and environmental dimension of globalisation, yet still omits - as do all commentaries I have seen - any mention of the possibility of including the fourth element of commercial interaction: labour. Somehow, the free movement of this commodity is not deemed to be a good thing; indeed it is anathematised as "economic migration", and controls on it get ever tighter. Yet the poor have nothing else to sell, and their inclusion within the global economy would benefit all of us.

What makes labour so different from the other elements of commerce? Is it just that you can't sell shares in it?

BILL LINTON

London N13