Goal 4: decentralisation and sustainability
Access to basic social services: human rights that make excellent economic sense
More money needed for basic social services
Authors:
J. Vandemoortele
Publisher:
Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Inc. , 1999
This paper, written for the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, presents findings and lessons from a study of the level, equity and efficiency of public spending on basic social services in more than 30 countries. It estimates that an extra $80 billion per year of public spending is needed to ensure universal coverage of basic social services. Considering countries that have made rapid social progress compared with their level of economic development, the paper argues that they: simultaneously addressed economic and social development, rather than leaving social development for later; prioritised and spent more on universal access to basic social services; and protected the basic social services budget during periods of crisis and austerity.
The author argues that universal access to an integrated package of basic social services is the most effective and cost-efficient way of sustaining the globalisation process: access to basic social services will empower the poor to embrace change n a globalising world, and improve the equity of market outcomes. The paper concludes that the incorporation of social principles and good practices for social policy therefore makes economic sense, as well as being a legal requirement for countries that have ratified human rights treaties.
