6 C E N T E R F O R WO M E N ' S G LO B A L L E A D E R S H I P disagreements have any implications for how we should interpret what the ICESCR states about the effectiveness of government spending to realize ESCR? ■■ What kinds of budget allocation policies safeguard economic and social rights? Indicators for Government Expenditures To judge how far a government has allocated adequate resources to public expenditure, it is useful to look at the ratio of total expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP). Gross domestic product is a measure of the total value of the output of goods and services produced in the economy, although it leaves out unpaid services in the household, such as unpaid childcare services provided by family members. Expenditure to GDP ratio should only be compared for countries that are similar when used as a benchmark to evaluate whether there is an appropriate amount of spending. In addition to looking at the total level of expenditures, the allocation of spending to particular areas that support the realization of specific rights, e.g., health, education, and income protections and transfers to low-income households, should also be taken into account and compared to areas of spending which do not support human rights, e.g., military spending. However, it is important not to limit the analysis of public expenditures to social spending, since the realization of some economic and social rights, e.g., the right to work, requires an examination of other areas of spending, e.g., public investment in basic economic infrastructure. The scope of human rights expenditure is therefore quite expansive, involving not just social service delivery, but also agricultural, industrial and employment policy. Consider a case in which efforts to realize children’s rights have been exclusively focused on spending on health and education and not on infrastructure investments, such as building roads and schools. Though the spending on health and education can have positive human rights outcomes, the lack of spending on infrastructure may deny some children access to clinics and schools. Thus, defining what constitutes a justified investment in economic and social rights should not be limited to social sectors alone, but also include investments in economic sectors. Indicators, such as the ratio of public expenditure to GDP, should be thought of as providing broad benchmarks for assessing government policy—they are not meant to be prescriptive targets. There may be valid reasons why government expenditure as a share of GDP will vary from the benchmark. The aim is not to develop precise targets, e.g., 5 percent of GDP must go to education. Instead, the goal is to use such indicators to judge whether there is cause for concern about compliance with obligations of conduct, in comparison with similar countries and with past performance of the same country.