A central component of this project is the refinement and consolidation of an annual and longitudinal international social and economics rights fulfillment index, a SERF Index. The second component of this project utilizes the created SERF Index to address three empirical questions. First, is there a trade-off between meeting economic and social rights obligations and economic growth? Second, do some policies simultaneously foster the fulfillment of economic and social rights obligations and economic growth? Third, to what extent does a government's success (or failure) to meet obligations under the ICESCR depend on direct ESR expenditures, the ability to raise revenues, and the interplay between the two? Cross-sectional and time-series econometric techniques are used to address the first two questions, while case studies are used to address the third.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) legally obligates countries to fulfill the rights enumerated therein to the maximum of available resources. This translates to an obligation of progressive realization, under which the level of obligation on each country differs according to its resource capacity. The SERF Index created in this project operationalizes this standard of progressive realization.
Refinement and Consolidation of the SERF Index: The project refined the indicator sets used in the construction of the SERF Index to better differentiate rights enjoyment levels in middle income countries and examined the robustness of the SERF Index by exploring some of the assumptions and choices that were made in its construction—in particular the construction of the Achievement Possibility Frontiers, APFs, specifying country obligations. Three issues were of paramount concern: First, whether the methodology used to specify the APFs set unreasonably high standards. This would be the case if countries that performed well on one right did so by short-changing attention to other rights. However, we found the opposite. Good performance on one right tends to go hand in hand with good performance on other rights empirically validating the normative position that ESR are indivisible and interdependent. Second, whether the statistical approach used to specify the APFs was robust to contending methodologies. It proved to be robust. Third, whether the choice to use per capita GDP (gross domestic product) as the measure of a country’s resources, as opposed to using per capita GNI (gross domestic income) and/or including the value of development aid lead to any systematic bias in the SERF Index scores. Econometric analysis demonstrates it does not. The SERF Index has been updated annually and is publically accessible on-line at www.serfindex.org . It is being used by academic researchers, in shadow reports to UN Treaty bodies charged with monitoring compliance with the ICESCR, and by human rights advocates and ombudsmen. Students at the undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. levels have been actively engaged in research refining, updating, and using the SERF Index. An overview of the project’s research findings is provided below: Global Progress and Challenges in Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights (ESR): Globally, over the past three decades, we observe substantial improvement in the extent to which countries meet their obligations to fulfill the substantive ESR—the rights to education, health, work & social security, food, and housing. However, most countries could do much more and the general trends mask troubling trends in both high income OECD countries and the rest of the world. There is wide variation across countries in the extent to which countries have improved their performance, and some countries have even regressed. Additionally, there are marked differences in the extent to which countries are meeting their obligations today, with only a fifth of countries achieving 90% of what they feasibly could. Sadly, for an equal number of countries the comparable figure is 20%. There are also significant differences in performance across rights, with fulfillment of the right to food typically lagging significantly behind fulfillment of the other ESRs. Equally troubling, there exist stark disparities in rights enjoyment between racial, ethnic and other demographic groups as well as between regions within countries. What Matters for Strong Performance? The SERF Index provides a powerful tool to identify the factors associated with strong performance in fulfilling social and economic rights obligations. The project’s exploration of these factors reveals the following: Democracy and Civil Rights: There is a higher floor on achievement in countries with robust democracies; some countries ruled by autocrats can perform well, but they are also more likely to do poorly. No robust relationship was revealed between civil liberties and the SERF Index. Legal Commitments: Ratification of the ICESCR alone is not enough. Countries that incorporate legally enforceable guarantees into domestic law perform better. Government Expenditures: The composition and targeting of public expenditures along with the breath of institutional supports matters more than the level of government social expenditures. Gender equity is highly correlated with the extent to which countries meet their obligations to fulfill economic and social rights. Is there a trade-off between growth and fulfilling economic and social rights obligations? Do policy regimes supporting both growth and rights fulfillment exist? Econometric studies reveal no necessary tradeoff between growth and meeting ESR obligations; the two can be synergistic. Further, countries performing poorly with regard to both growth and ESR are likely to do better by prioritizing ESR fulfillment over growth. Policy regimes promoting synergies between growth and fulfilling ESR obligations include: Policies shaping market incentives to constrain inequality, foster equal opportunity, and provide basic infrastructure; urban biased policies undermine synergies. Policies promoting a diversified trade portfolio of labor intensive manufactured goods; primary product dominated trade undermines synergies. Policies consciously focused on promoting ESR. Policies broadening the tax structure. Country case studies contrasting strong with weak performers on the right to food Strong performers adopt a multipronged approach that improves food security by increasing wage exchange, production, and social entitlements. Grass roots political mobilization is critical in building the political commitment necessary to implement effective interventions.
