G overnment E xpenditure 5 The report is organized around five topics which are essential to sustainably maximizing resource availability to realize human rights: (1) government expenditure; (2) government revenue; (3) development assistance (both official development assistance and private resource flows); (4) debt and deficit financing;11 and (5) monetary policy and financial regulation. Together, these inter-related policy areas can be represented in a diagram with five critical nodes for mobilizing resources. Government Expenditure Monetary Policy & Financial Regulation Debt & Deficit Financing Government Revenue Development Assistance Figure 1: The Maximum Available Resources (MAR) Star Government Expenditure II. The allocation of government expenditure is reflected in how different areas of spending are prioritized in the budget. Reprioritizing public budget expenditure and making them more efficient and effective is a central element to ensuring resources for ESC rights over time. Several key issues are relevant to help unpack this area within the context of MAR. KEY QUESTIONS: ■■ How can we assess the adequacy of the size of public expenditures? ■■ How do we deal with the fact that resources may be mobilized, but spent by governments in ways that undermine human rights, rather than realize them? ■■ Do claims for improvements in efficiency often conceal costs, in terms of increases to unpaid work in homes and communities, and retrogression in the right to just and favorable conditions of work? ■■ What do economists mean by ‘effectiveness’? Is there disagreement among economists about what ‘effectiveness’ means? Do these