Globalization Doesn't Boost Welfare Views? New Evidence Upends Conventional Wisdom

This paper addresses a gap in the literature on globalization's effects on welfare spending. Previous studies focused exclusively on either macro-level impacts or micro-level individual reactions.

Drawing from hierarchical modeling, we analyze individual citizens' responses alongside country-specific characteristics and actual global economic changes.

Our key findings reveal two important trends:

• Individual attitudes toward globalization are context-dependent (various based on whether they're winners or losers)
• When welfare generosity is measured through government spending on active labor market programs, more positive attitudes emerge among citizens

These results challenge the compensation hypothesis. However, our analysis suggests that individuals' views might be shaped differently depending on how we measure welfare state generosity.

This nuanced understanding helps explain why some studies find different effects than others.