Moreover, the adoption of international agreements on labour rights and the welfare State would reduce the risks of predatory competition in which wages would be the key adjustment variable for increasing exports and attracting foreign capital. Strategies based on wage cuts represent the predominance of a spurious competitiveness over approaches aimed at closing gaps, and they erode the tax base needed to build the public goods that are essential for the functioning of democracy. A multilateral system open to trade, working to narrow production and technological asymmetries, would foster job creation in less developed countries and reduce the political tensions associated with migration.