Includes bibliographical references and index.

List of Boxes ; List of Tables ; List of Figures ; Acknowledgements ; Chapter 1: Introduction ; Chapter 2: Measuring Social and Economic Rights: the SERF Index Approach ; Chapter 3: Constructing the SERF Index: Progressive Realization and Aggregation ; Chapter 4: Constructing the SERF Index: From Rights Enjoyment to Indicators ; Chapter 5: A Global Picture of Social and Economic Rights Fulfillment ; Chapter 6: What Matters for Strong Performance? ; Chapter 7: Responding to Critics: Trade-Offs, Policy Choices, Historical; Chapter 8: Conclusions; Notes; Bibliography; About the Authors; Index

One of the most ambitious legacies of the 20th century was the universal commitment to ensure freedom from want as a human right. But to what extent are countries across the world living up to this commitment? This path-breaking book develops an innovative, evidence-based index for comparing performance on education, food, health, work, and housing across very differently situated countries and over time. It explores the factors influencing performance and provides empirical evidence to resolve some long-standing controversies over the principle of "progressive realization." By defying the boundaries of traditional research disciplines, this work fundamentally advances our knowledge about the status of and factors promoting social and economic rights fulfillment at the dawn of the 21st century.