Globalization and the Future of Social Protection

Social protection in industrial countries has been provided through regulations, tax expenditures, and public spending. This paper argues that globalization will affect the governments' ability to continue providing social protection at the level of recent decades. Specifically, tax competition among jurisdictions, ballooning electronic commerce, and increased mobility of the factors of production will likely cause significant falls in tax revenue in future years while increasing competition will reduce the scope for some forms of regulations. The paper concludes that countries need to look for new ways to provide social protection.