This, the first in of two human-rights-related posts today, is for policy wonks only. It’s a report that I helped Diane Elson and Radhika Balakrishnan with, and the aim is to bring together macroeconomic policy makers and human rights activists. There’s a great deal of guidance in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights about what governments should and shouldn’t be doing to promote human rights. Providing basic healthcare to everyone – yes. Place pensions into the private sector- not so much.
Of course, most macroeconomic policy is made without a care for human rights – but since the foundations of macroeconomic policy have so comprehensively crumbled, it’s not a bad time to think about replacements. Human rights can help.
So, if you’re interested in exactly how this might work, with case studies based in the US and Mexico, read on.