Labor as a commodity Can anyone enlighten me if there are economic theories where labor is considered as a commodity like cloth and wine in the Ricardo theory, so that it can be exported and imported similarly to other commodities? I would be grateful for references.
So in modern English, a commodity is a raw material for production or basic agricultural good that can be exchanged for money. Labor, by this definition, is neither a raw material, no one grinds humans up to build stuff, I hope; an agricultural good, similar reasoning; nor exchangeable for money, as slavery and indentured servitude is illegal and efficient in most places. (Letting people make their own work decisions, or at least not forcing them to work, is good, generally speaking.)

Even with a more generously wide definition of a commodity, commodities are generally seen to be fungible, which means you cannot easily differentiate between the good/service based on region, or that they all of each type of commodity is seen as equivalent. So if you are willing to say that all labor is equivalent...

Basically, labor is generally not seen as a commodity.