Shiller and Human Rights

Donna Hoang 
Blog 2
 

Shiller, in his book Finance and the Good Society, criticizes the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights for its lack of specificity in indicating how these rights will be pursued monetarily and claims
that the it lacks flexibility and compromise. He then writes, “We need to reframe the wording of 
“universal human rights” so that they represent the rights of all people to a fair compromise” (149).

First, human rights were not meant to be flexible. In fact, the universal aspect of these rights shows
that no matter what country one lives in or what economic system one lives under these rights should 
NOT be violated. In a way, it is there to serve as a restriction for the course of action that institutions can 
take. The Universal Declaration is a recognition to one another that we will treat each other like decent 
human beings even if it may not be the most “efficient” course of action. The Declaration shows our 
promise to prioritize human well-being, and by this priority, all economic efficiency and state efficiency 
should be occurring for human well-being.

Therefore, asking for a more flexible declaration in sake of a better monetary policy, and asking people 
to compromise their rights in sake of economic efficiency is quite backwards. For example, there are 
many flaws in our social welfare system, and I am not denying that reform and perhaps even a better 
monetary policy in regards to financing these issues is needed today. However, the question of how we 
are going to make this Declaration reality and how we are going to fund it should cater to the primary 
goals of ensuring that these rights are strongly held in place.

I do acknowledge that human rights is a difficult concept, and many might dismiss my 
“non-compromising” attitude as highly idealistic. For example, the Bangladesh Garment Industry fired 
their child laborers so that the United States would not cut off trade relations, but UNICEF later found 
that many children were forced into prostitution and stone-crushing as an alternative to child labor. 
So does this mean that child labor should be allowed in this situation? Shouldn’t we compromise the 
right of education and allow them to work in factories since the alternative is so much worse?

This case study does prove that simply banning child labor in this country is not the solution, but 
instead of dismissing the idea as a whole, the other possible alternatives, such as a public school, should 
be explored. If the right institutions are put in place for these children, then perhaps prostitution, 
stone-crushing, and child labor could all be avoided. Yes, it will be costly, but maybe this is where 
philanthropy can become useful. It is not an easy thing to achieve, but it is possible.

In conclusion, I believe that there is no “fair compromise” when it comes to human rights. There are 
very few things that I believe is a zero-sum game, but human rights is one of those cases where one’s 
rights is respected or it’s not. There really isn’t a middle line when it comes to these rights. Therefore, 
human rights are the boundary in which politics and economic games should be played. If there is a 
monetary problem in financing some of our support systems, then we should all be on the search to find 
a better method within these same boundaries.

Comments

  1. jdoutFebruary 15, 2018 at 5:17 AM

    I agree that it behooves economists such as Robert Shiller--and the members of this CSEM who plan a career in finance or public policy--to roll up their sleeves and help find solutions to make human rights a reality, instead of dismissing them for financial reasons as being "too costly." Remember that similar arguments about things being "impossible," "outrageous," or "inefficient" were once made for many other social issues that we now take for granted, such as allowing Jews to work outside of usury, allowing African Americans access to all forms of education, work and public service, and allowing women access to professional careers in "male" fields.
    As I recall, Shiller claims that that problem-solving is what FIN is supposed to do: make human desires and hopes become reality.

    ReplyDelete

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