Chapter 3 | Page 130 3.4.2 Public policy dimensions of resource allocation in practice The quantity and quality of resources made available for ESC rights programmes often reflects the interplay between economics, politics and policy which influences how public policy priorities are set. The process of making adequate financial and non-financial resources available for various programmes and activities that impact on ESC rights involves significant engagement with the policymaking process. The nature of ESC rights makes them ‘public goods’. Hence it is important to apply economic understanding of public goods and their policy implications so they become an integral part of public policy. Provision of many ESC rights requires government intervention in order to achieve socially-efficient levels of enjoyment.149 Given that one of the primary functions of the State is to promote equality and inclusion in the economic and social allocation of resources,150 human rights language provides for the State to take this responsibility of resource allocation. As previously noted, the process of resource allocation must be guided by mechanisms of public engagement and the language of community empowerment. This is essential to identify areas where the greatest social and human rights impact can be achieved through government resources. The policy process of resource allocation among competing priorities can be understood from the perspectives of institutional arrangements, laws and regulations, actors and the dynamics of their interactions. This is discussed in Chapter 7. 149 William Felice, 'Linking Law and Economics: Translating Economic and Social Human Rights Norms into Public Policy' (Paper presented at the Rights and Their Translation into Practice Conference, Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, 22-24 April 2011) 9. 150 Branco, above n 18, 19.