Social Safety Nets in APEC: The Case of Social Standards

Abstract

Globalization in the past few decades has expedited world economic growth and increased communication and interdependence among countries and citizens. Nonetheless, it generates social tensions as reduced border barriers make explicit of costs of those maintaining higher labor standards, create downward pressures for labor and environmental standards, and induce consumption of goods that are either harmful to health or whose health effects are not yet adequately documents. Observers warn of resistance to globalization if social tensions left unattended to. This paper suggests that traditional definition of social security be extended to the need of establishing social safety nets to mitigate adverse impacts of globalization. It suggests that such nets may best originate from production and consumption networks at regional or even sub-regional setting. This paper further discusses implications for Taiwan.