The Cost of Rights or the Right Cost? The Impact of Global Economic and Human Rights Policies on Child Well-Being

'This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009' (Public Law 111-5)

Are new international laws promoting the rights of children effective? Under what conditions? Since 1989, nearly every country in the world has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, making it the most widely ratified treaty ever. The world has thus made a formal commitment to promote children's rights. This project assesses the impact of this formal commitment on the lives of children and identify the range of factors that work with international law to improve children's well-being.

International child-rights treaties may only be window dressing, designed to make countries look good but easily evaded. If this is true, other factors may also be necessary to encourage nation-states to live up to treaty obligations. Perhaps national laws promoting child rights, or the presence of child-rights interest groups within countries, are also essential. Where do global economic trends fit in? In the recent past, international financial institutions promoted the privatization of social services, requiring families to pay fees to use those services. This may have discouraged parents from sending children to school and or getting the children medical treatments. Global economic policies were also, until very recently, promoting the global flow of capital unhindered by borders or regulation. This could also affect child well-being, although more indirectly. This project will identify the many factors that facilitate or impede the implementation of international law.

To answer the questions posed, the researchers gather and code data on international and national child rights policies and international and national economic policies and characteristics. They also compile measures of several dimensions of child well-being over time for most countries in the world. These dimensions include child survival (e.g., health and mortality); child development (e.g., educational enrollments); equal opportunity for children regardless of race, creed, gender, etc.; and the integration of children?s best interests into policymaking. The researchers use these data in pooled time-series analyses to determine the circumstances under which international law is most effective. The comprehensive dataset constructed for this project will be made publicly available so that other researchers can answer related questions concerning child rights.