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Abstract
This literature review focuses on how economic theory and human rights shape or lack in the
construction of policymaking. It evaluates the way policy is made and informed by in the
government by overviewing the economic social welfare theory. It proceeds to evaluate
alternatives to constructing development other than human rights and it provides for a
proposition in which economic theory and human rights complement each other and are both
required to offer an efficient policymaking process. It concludes by analyzing each point of view
and by reflecting on the fact that the main differences from human rights and economics come
from their conceptual and theoretical backgrounds and that when it comes to the implementation
process both are needed and neither is a causality of the other.
Social Welfare theory is mostly a utilitarian based model that provides for a welfare function in
which it is assumed that society wants to maximize utility or satisfaction. To derive the model, or
theory, you assume that there is two consumers, two goods and two producers. The first step is
that by utilizing the production functions required to create each good, a graph is formed by
combining the point of view of each producer to create a contract curve. This curve serves as a
graphical representation of a point in which producers no longer have an incentive to trade and a
movement along this curve will make a producer better off at the expense of another. At every
point on this contract curve the production of the goods is the most efficient. This contract curve
provides for an analog function called the Production Possibilities Frontier and measures the
availability of production of each producer given a set amount of inputs. This frontier derives an
additional contract curve, in terms of utility, which and provides an infinite amount of points for
the welfare frontier which envelopes the constraints for utility for society while maximizing
utility or satisfaction. The welfare frontier encompasses all the constraints for society and it is
the objective of public policy to create policies that strive to make sure that the polity is moving
along the frontier, because that would mean that society is maximizing utility (T. P Roth,
personal communication, November, 2016).
Just by the mere fact that social welfare theory is a utilitarian model, it is evident that public
policy is informed by levels of production and consumption and does not even consider
allocation of resources or distribution of wealth. It is easy to assume that welfare theory and
human rights do not go hand in hand, because consumption and production cannot be by any
means a measure for morality. What social welfare theory does not take in to consideration as
well is the fact that the consumption of goods are not the only things that provide utility or
satisfaction to people, it also only takes in consideration economic aspects of development and
not social rights.
Can there be an alternative measure of development than human rights?
An alternative to human rights for evaluating how a government of a specific country is acting in
terms of improving the well-being of its citizens is proposed by Posner in his essay Human
Welfare, Not Human Rights. For Posner, the Social Welfare Theory should be the only basis and
source for constructing economic policy, and that human welfare should be the focus for every
government as opposed to human rights. In his essay he critiques human rights as being too rigid
and vague for governments to implement them in constructing public policy. Posner proposes the
alternative of human welfare as the objective for each country. He justifies this alternative by
stating that through economic indicators such a unemployment and gross domestic product, there
can be an objective measure that transcends national boundaries in a sense that no matter the
culture of each country the measure for well-being can be applied to all. (Posner, 2008). The
disadvantage from this perspective is that although there might be an increase of well-being, due
to the assumptions made when constructing the social welfare theory, it fails to provide a moral
perspective to public policy. Although it measures well-being from a maximization of utility or
satisfaction, there are certain rights or basic moral needs that cannot be taken in consideration
when constructing the model. It also provides an overall perspective on society and cannot in fact
measure a qualitative right through quantitative approaches.
In the book Closing the Rights Gap, Haglund provides a similar perspective on human
rights. He does so by evaluating the right to health and a healthy environment, and how the
actual policies to implement them, as proposed by the UN Committee on Economic and Social
and Cultural Rights, are vague and cannot be taken out of context in economics. Haglund
In the article written by Kaladharan, he shares a similar view and states that although
common misconceptions lead to make society believe that economic theory does not have in its
purpose the achievement, implementation and regulation of human rights from the government,
human rights actually are an important factor for public policy and that they are both equally
important that the pursuit of one without the other would be incomplete and ineffective
(Kaladharan, 1980).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the goal which any government, entity, or organization should pursue is to find the
balance between a stable economic development and the vital application of human rights on all
population. In reality, as it can be read on the sources shown in this Literature Review,
accomplishing such balance is a difficult task. In the day to day application we can notice three
different theories; economists who believe that in order to be a successful state, leaders should
only focus on how well developed the economy is; humanitarians who truly think that all laws
should always take first in consideration human rights; and lastly those modern economists who
have brought a different idea in where a stable state or government, is in where people notice that
a good economy is in a symbiotic relationship with human rights (one cannot exist without the
other). The first theory receives the name of social welfare theory. In this theory economists see
that the wealth of a state can only be measure by looking at economical aspects like salaries,
imports, exports, industrial development, new technologies, commerce, percentage of
employment, prices of the market, etc. They believe that such economical aspects should be
accomplished first no matter what. Is in his point in where a discrepancy between economists
and human rights supporters. Human rights supporters are against this theory because supporters
of the social welfare theory do not consider aspects like an equal distribution of wealth, job
conditions, nor the protection of human dignity. In other words, their measure of development
and progress is derived from objective economic indicators that provide an overview of the
polity, but do not measure individualistic values, since they offer a generalized perspective.
Other economists see todays world and realize that a balance between these two groups or
theories is possible. If a state has a good economic base it will be able to focus on developing the
high rights for the people. In the other hand if people from a society see that their human rights
are being respected they will look for a way to participate in the economy of such society helping
to its development. The authors of the sources explain these three perspectives, and how they all
have their pros and cons giving future economists a responsibility of learning and analyzing the
theory which will help the future world, always considering that there is a difference from
conceptual theory and implementation.
References
Branco, M. C. (2009). Economics versus human rights. London: Routledge.
Haglund, L., & Stryker, R. (Eds.). (2015). Closing the Rights Gap: From Human Rights to Social
Transformation. University of California Press. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt130jt5r
M. G. Kaladharan Nayar. (1980). Human Rights and Economic Development: The Legal
Foundations. Universal Human Rights, 2(3), 55-81. doi:1. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/761846 doi:1
Posner, E. (2008). Human Welfare, Not Human Rights. Columbia Law Review, 108(7), 17581801. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40041807
Roth, T. P. (1999). Ethics, economics, and freedom: The failure of consequentialist social welfare
theory. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Seymour, Dan. (2008). Human Rights and Economics: The Conceptual Basis for Their
Complementarity. Development Policy Review, 26(4), 387-405. Retrieved from
https://www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy/Class2-Reading4HRandEconomics.pdf.pdf
Merriam-Websters collegiate dictionary (10th ed.).(1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.