further fueled the process of technological change, raising other challenges. major companies have increasingly spread their operations around the world in order to better serve their customers and improve their competitiveness. while corporate revenue and profit growth have been enhanced by globalization, this trend has clearly created strains on those regions and towns in developed countries that have seen jobs and significant portions of key industries relocate to other geographic regions, now benefitting in terms of employment and production spillovers. as global trade between countries has expanded, economic conditions in one nation now have a greater potential to impact economic conditions in others, through the trade of goods and services as well as through capital flows and labour market dynamics. global frontier firms, such as the major players in the tech industry ( the “ big tech ” ) are best placed to take advantage of network effects. this advantage can lock - in their market dominance, creating a winner - takes - all dynamic, potentially leading to increased earnings inequality across firms. concentration allows for greater benefits from economies of scale, but there is a risk that barriers to entry can stifle innovation. the changes that innovation and globalization bring about in the corporate structure and organization and in labour demand clearly need to be understood and responded to. the most significant impact of the current wave of globalization is, again, on the labour market. whether it is low cost or skilled manufacturing workers in china, software or customer service professionals in india, or highly skilled employees in eastern europe, companies can now access new pools of human capital across the globe – a fact that can have a profound influence on their strategy and structure. the availability of a global pool of human capital also presents new challenges as to how firms should organize themselves to take advantage of this opportunity. the uneven distribution of skill requirements and wage levels between advanced and emerging countries has also proved to be a strong push factor for surging migration flows. these changes couple with key secular demographic trends. higher living standards have increased life expectancy around the globe and, for the first time in history, the world not only is experiencing a growing population ( increased by about 50 per cent in the last thirty years and expected to reach 10 billion in the next thirty years, from the 7. 5 billion today ) but also, in most advanced countries as well as in china, a dramatic increase in old - age dependency rates. one billion people today are aged 60 or over, 13 per cent of the world ’ s population, and this age group is growing much faster than the younger ones. this trend

task. it requires the ability to assess the quality and quantity of the skills available among the population, determine and anticipate those demanded by the labour market and implement efficient strategies to maintain and update them throughout workers ’ lifecycles. data on available skills is, however, of poor quality and the demand for skills, present and future, is often a black box. in developing countries challenges are even greater as access to basic - level schooling remains an issue for a sizeable share of the population : action will have to be taken to carefully balance equal access to and completion of lower - secondary education with further learning both for school - age children and for adults. these strategies require coherence and co - operation among schools, the private sector and social partners : the world of learning and the world of work must be linked. formal education attainments do indeed display high complementarity with on - the - job training and other initiatives intended to increase the coherence between the supply and the demand of skills. human capital investment is key not only to boosting productivity but also to tackling inequality and promoting social mobility, enhancing social capital and maintaining social cohesion. adults with low levels of education have a higher likelihood of reporting poor health and a lower participation in community groups and organizations. at the same time, more qualified adults are much more likely to feel that they have a voice that can make a difference in social and political life. these results are consistent across a wide range of countries, confirming that skills have a profound relationship with economic and social outcomes in many different contexts and institutions. investing in skills is far less costly, in the long run, than paying the price of poorer health, lower incomes, unemployment and social exclusion that could lead to political aversion towards technological advancement and progress. finally, i would like to stress the important role of international cooperation in the management of the long and uncertain transition phase. an institutional synoptic design encompassing all policies ( fiscal and welfare, antitrust, and structural reforms ) is highly desirable. greater attention must be paid to the coordination of policies at a supranational level and to the sharing of data and statistics in order to correctly measure and interpret the economic variables as well as the channels through which the effects of these policies will meet their intended target. let me conclude by thanking the organizers – emanuela ciapanna, fabrizio colonna and paolo sestito from the bank of italy as well as ciro avitabile