Economic Rights

This group of University of Connecticut faculty meets bi-monthly to discuss current scholarship in the area of economic rights, and related theoretical issues across a range of disciplines. Below is a list of resources reviewed by the group since its inception in 2004.

Economic Rights Group Members

Oksan Bayulgen, Assistant Professor, Political Science
Mark Boyer, Professor, Political Science
Audrey Chapman, Professor, Community Medicine & Healthcare
Lynne Healy, Professor, School of Social Work
Shareen Hertel, Assistant Professor, Political Science
Richard Hiskes, Professor, Political Science
Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Associate Professor, Economics
Kathryn Libal, Assistant Professor in Residence, Women’s Studies
Valerie Love, Curator for Human Rights, Dodd Research Center
Tom Miceli, Professor, Economics
Alanson Minkler, Associate Professor, Economics
Michael Morrell, Associate Professor, Political Science
Susan Randolph, Associate Professor, Economics
Lyle Scruggs, Associate Professor, Political Science
Heather Turcotte, Assistant Professor, Political Science & Women's Studies
Christian Zimmermann, Associate Professor, Economics

Economic Rights Group Affiliates

Affiliates are academics within the larger scholarly community who actively participate in our program.

Catherine Albisa, Executive Director, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor, International Studies & Economics, Marymount Manhattan College
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor, International Affairs, The New Schoo
Michael Goodhart, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Mark Gibney, Professor, Law, Univ. of North Carolina-Ashville
Philip Harvey, Professor, Law and Economics, Rutgers School of Law - Camden
Patrick Heidkamp, Assistant Professor, Dept of Geography, Southern Connecticut State University
Ken Neubeck, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut
Shawna Sweeney, Assistant Professor, Policy Studies, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Economic Rights Working Papers

About the Economic Rights Working Paper Series at the Human Rights Institute

The purpose of the series is to foster and promote research in the re-emerging area of economic rights. The series aims to be the clearinghouse for research in economic rights. It will be continuously updated. Typically, working papers in the series represent work in progress on any topic of economic rights and from any field. Published articles may also be included as a convenient way for scholars to access up-to-date research in their area of interest. In all cases the copyrights for the papers included in the series remain with the author or, if previously published, with the author and/or publisher. Those interested in submitting papers to the series should contact Lanse Minkler, Director of Socio-Economic Rights at the Human Rights Institute, at Alanson.Minkler@uconn.edu.

Access the Economic Rights Working Paper Series »

Reading List and Research Presentations

ERG Fall '09 Schedule

All meeting will be held from: 12 noon till 1:30 p.m.

Friday, 9/18/09
Dodd Center, Room 162

Christian Zimmerman (UConn, Economics)
“Unemployment accounts vs. unemployment insurance: A quantitative exploration”

Friday 10/9/09
Babbidge Library Administrative Conference Room
(* Go to main Babbidge Offices on the Plaza level; the Conference room is within that suite of offices; the receptionist will direct you.)

Kathy Libal (UConn School of Social Work)
“HR in the USA: Selected readings and discussion.”

• Risa L. Goluboff, The Lost Promise of Civil Rights (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007) – Read “Introduction” (pages 1-15), and Chapter 3 “Claiming Rights in the Industrial Economy (pages 81-110).

• Philip Alston, “Putting Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Back on the Agenda of the United States,” in The Future of Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era, edited by William F. Schulz (Pennslyvania, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), pages 120-138.

 

Friday, 11/6/09
Babbidge Library Administrative Conference Room

Susan Randolph (UConn Economics)
"An Index of Economic and Social Rights Fulfillment: Country Scores and Rankings" (paper by by Susan Randolph, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Terra Lawson-Remer)

Friday, 11/20/09
Dodd Center, Room 162

David Richards (Gladstein Visiting Professor of Human Rights)
“Three Doors Into the Same Room: Development, Rights, and Security”

 

ERG Fall ’08 Schedule

All Sessions are Fridays 12-1:30 in room 162, Dodd Center--except Oct. 31

September 12

• Samson Kimenyi:
  "On Ethnic Division and Inequality in Kenya"

September 26

• Audrey Chapman:
  "Globalization, Health, and Human Rights"

October 17

• Shareen Hertel:
  "Human Rights in a Global Economy: Bringing Labor Rights Back In"

October 31 (room TBA)

• Philip Harvey:
  "Returning the Favor: What Economists Can Learn from the Law"

November 14

• Rich Hiskes:
  "The Human Right to a Green Future"

ERG Itinerary: Spring 2008

All Sessions are from 12-1:30

February 8 Rm. 162

• Oksan Bayulgen
  Topic: Non-State Approaches to Institutionalizing Economic Rights

February 29 Rm. 162

• Topic: Hurricane Katrina and Human Rights
  12-12:30 Readings and Discussion
• Summary of The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act of 2007 (HR 4048). For full text of legislation see the following link:
  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/
  ~c110uFdCRr
• Where Did the Katrina Money Go? By Jeffrey Buchanan and Chris Kromm, Institute for Southern Studies, September 5, 2007.
• NESRI
• 12:30-? Film: When the Levees Broke (By Spike Lee)

March 28 Admin. Conference Rm.

• Shareen Hertel
  Topic: The Effect of Constitutionalizing Economic Rights on Social Mobilization

April 11 Rm. 162

• Radhika Balakrishnan
  Topic: Assessing Macroeconomic Policies and Human Rights

April 12

• 2nd Annual ERG Workshop on the Indivisibility and Interdependence of Human Rights

April 25 Admin. Conf. Rm

• Mark Boyer
  Topic: Public Goods Theory Applied to Environmental Rights

ERG Itinerary: Fall 2007

All Sessions are from 12-1:30 at the listed Dodd Center Room

September 14 Rm. 162

• Lanse Minkler Topic: Economic Rights and the Policymaker’s Decision Problem

October 5 Admin Conference Rm

• Susan Randolph Topic: Measuring Household Level Food Security in Rural Senegal

October 26 Rm. 162

• Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
  Topic: Human Development and Human Rights: addressing the limitations of Human Rights Based Development

November 16 Rm. 162

• Tarp, Finn, 2006. “Aid and Development,” Swedish Economic Policy Review 13: 9-61.
• Clemens, Michael A., 2007. “Smart Samaritans - Is There a Third Way in the Development Debate?(The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It)(Book review of Paul Collier),” Foreign Affairs 86(5): 132-140.

December 7 Admin Conference Rm

• Stiglitz, J. and A. Charlton, 2005. Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapters 2,3, 5.

ERG Itinerary: Spring 2007

All meetings are on Fridays from 1:30-3pm

Febuary 2 Conference Room 162, Dodd Research Center

• Oksan Bayulgen
  Topic: On Microfinance Research

Febuary 23 Administrative Conference Room, Dodd Research Center

• Kathy Libal
  Topic: Economic Rights in 'General Comments' of UN
  Human Rights Treaty-Monitoring Bodies

March 16 Administrative Conference Room, Dodd Research Center

1. Audrey Chapman
   Topic: TBA

April 6 Administrative Conference Room, Dodd Research Center

• Lanse Minkler
  Topic: The Cost of Economic Rights

April 27 Administrative Conference Room, Dodd Research Center

• Shareen Hertel, Lyle Scruggs, and Patrick Heidkamp
  Topic: On Ethical Consumption

ERG Itinerary: Fall 2006

All meetings are on Fridays from 1-2:30

September 15 Conference Rm. 162, Dodd

• Organizational Issues
• (Optional) Hertel, S. and Minkler, L., “Economic Rights: The Terrain.”

September 29 Administrative Rm., Dodd

• Alston, P., 2005. Ships Passing in the Night: The Current State of the Human Rights and Development Debate Seen Through the Lens of the Millennium Development Goals,” HRQ 27, 755-829.
• Harvard School of Public Health, FXB Center Working Paper series, No. 12: Arjun Sengupta, "Development Cooperation and the Right to
  Development" (2003):

October 13 Conference Rm. 162, Dodd

• Lyle Scruggs, Political Science. Topic: On Social Insurance

November 10 Administrative Rm., Dodd

• Bandana Purkayastha, Sociology. Topic: TBA

December 1 Administrative Rm., Dodd

• Shawna Sweeney, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
  Topic: TBA

ERG Reading List: Spring 2006

January 30

• Philip Harvey, Rutgers Law School (topic: on the right to employment)

Febuary 20

• Stephen Pallage, University of Montreal, Economics (topic: on child labor)

March 13

• Michael Goodhart, University of Pittsburgh, Political Science (topic: on the right to an adequate standard of living)

April 3

• Susan Radolph, Uconn, Economics (topic: on measuring economic rights)

April 15

• Kathryn Libal, Uconn, Anthropology (topic: Debating Economic Rights in the First Wave International Feminist Movement, 1920s-1930s)

ERG Reading List: Fall 2005

September 20

• (1) Hertel, S., Forthcoming. "Why Bother? Advancing Work on Measuring Economic Rights," in Landman and Dahlerus (Eds).
• (2) Green, M., 2001. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Indicators:
  Current Approaches to Human Rights Measurement," Human Rights Quarterly 23, 1062-1097.

October 4

• (1) Nickel, J., 2005. "Poverty and Rights," The Philosophical Quarterly 55, 385-402.
• (2) Beetham, David, 1995. _What Future for Economic and Social Rights,_ Political Studies 43, 41-60.

October 18

• (1) Kimenyi, S., 2005. " Economic Rights, Human Development Effort and Institutions," Paper to be presented at the Economic Rights Conference.
• (2) Blume, L. and S. Voigt, 2004. _The Economic Effects of Human Rights,_ University of Kassel Working Paper 66/04.

ERG Reading List: Spring 2005

Concepts

January 24

• Sen, Amartya, 2004. “Elements of a Theory of Human Rights,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 32, 315-356.

February 7

• From: Sunstein, Cass, 2004. The Second Bill of Rights. (Introduction and chapters 10-12).

Measures

February 28

• Milner, Wesley T., Steven C. Poe and David Leblang, 1999. “Security Rights, Subsistence Rights, and Liberties: A Theoretical Survey of the Empirical Landscape,” Human Rights Quarterly 21, 403-443.

March 14

• Cingranelli, David L. and David L. Richards, 2004. “Measuring Government Respect for Economic Human Rights,” paper prepared for the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, 13 September 2004.

Policy

CHILD LABOR

March 28

• Basu, Kaushik, and Zafiris Tzannatos, 2003. “The Global Child Labor Problem: What Do We Know and What Can We Do?,” CAE Working Paper #03-06, June 2003.

LIVING WAGE

April 11

• “Beyond Questions of Principle: Exploring the Implementation of Living Wages in Today’s Global Economy,” A Report on the Fair Labor Association’s Living Wage Forum, October 20, 2003, Columbia University.

ERG Reading List Fall 2004

September 23

• Marks, Stephen, (2000-01). “The Human rights Framework for Development: Five Approaches,” Working Paper No.6, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health.
• Copp, David, 1992. “The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living: Justice, Autonomy, and Basic Needs,” in Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Miller, and Jeffrey Paul (Eds), Economic Rights, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

October 7

• Sen, Amartya, 1999. Development as Freedom, NY: Knopf. Chapters 3 and 4.
• Sugden, Robert, 1993. “A Review of Inequality Reexamined by Amartya Sen,” Journal of Economic Literature, 31, 1947-62.

October 21

• Gewirth, Alan, 1996. The Community of Rights, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Chapters 1 and 2.

November 4

• Pogge, Thomas. “A Cosmopolitan Perspective on the Global Economic Order,” in Harry Brighouse and Gillian Brock (Eds), The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism.

November 18

• Sachs, Albie, 2004. “The Judicial Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights: The Grootboom Case,” paper presented at a conference on Third Party Effects- What Happens When the State Promotes Rights?, 12th Annual Conference on “The Individidual Versus the Stat,” Central European University, Budapest, June 18-19.

Conferences

Economic Rights Group Workshop 2008, “Interdependence and Indivisibility” [pdf]

Economic Rights Group Workshop 2007, “Instantiating Economic Rights” [pdf]

 

Economic Rights: Conceptual, Measurement, And Policy Issues 2005

This conference resulted in the publication of an edited volume by the same title, available from Cambridge University Press.

Scholars and policymakers are increasingly attempting to link socio-economic and classic civil and political rights in unprecedented and innovative ways. The University of Connecticut will host a conference on "Economic Rights: Conceptual, Measurement, and Policy Issues" (October 27-29, 2005) to move this new research and debate forward. The event is co-sponsored by the University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, in celebration of the Dodd Center’s 10th Anniversary Celebration.

Contact

For further information on this group, contact:
Prof. Lanse Minkler, Department of Economics
Prof. Shareen Hertel, Department of Political Science