Do Social Rights Affect Social Outcomes?
52 Pages Posted: 10 Sep 2013
Date Written: September 9, 2013
Abstract
While the United Nations and NGOs are pushing for global judicialization of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs), little is known of their consequences. We provide evidence of the effects of introducing three types of ESCRs into the Constitution: the rights to education, health and social security. Employing a large panel covering annual data from 160 countries in the period 1960-2010, we find no robust evidence of positive effects of ESCRs. We do, however, document adverse medium-term effects on education and inflation.
Keywords: human rights, human development, constitutional political economy
JEL Classification: K19, H11, O11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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