Introduction: Globalization and the Welfare State

Abstract

Both globalization and the welfare state are very important concepts at the start of the twenty-first century. They are also controversial topics. Most economists and economic historians would probably agree that the period of ‘Pax Britannica’, (the years from 1820 — after the end of the Napoleonic Wars — to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914) was the splendid era of globalization, first and foremost comprising the Western world (Western Europe, North America and Australia) but also having a deep influence on other parts of the world. During that period, there was a great expansion in international trade, and international migration became important when large groups of people emigrated to North America and to parts of Latin America.