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  4. March 2009
  5. Globalization and the Welfare State: A Review of Hans-Werner Sinn's Can Germany Be Saved?

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

Globalization and the Welfare State: A Review of Hans-Werner Sinn's Can Germany Be Saved?

  • Dennis J. Snower
  • Alessio J. G. Brown
  • Christian Merkl
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 47, no. 1, March 2009
(pp. 136–58)
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Abstract

What are the challenges that globalization makes on welfare states and how should welfare states respond? How should welfare states be designed to enable countries to reap the benefits of globalization? These are the main themes of Hans-Werner Sinn's book, Can Germany Be Saved? We view Germany as a case study of how a welfare state can go wrong in reacting to the pressures of globalization. We present two views of globalization -- the "specialization view" (of Sinn) and the "Great Reorganization view" (ours) -- and examine the policy implications of each for the welfare state design.

Citation

Snower, Dennis J., Alessio J. G. Brown, and Christian Merkl. 2009. "Globalization and the Welfare State: A Review of Hans-Werner Sinn's Can Germany Be Saved?." Journal of Economic Literature, 47 (1): 136–58. DOI: 10.1257/jel.47.1.136

JEL Classification

  • F02 International Economic Order
  • H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
  • I30 Welfare and Poverty: General
  • P16 Capitalist Systems: Political Economy