Economic security, broadly defined, is people’s ability to continuously satisfy their requirements. It is linked to both the concept of economic well-being and the concept of the modern welfare state, a political institution that commits to providing basic security guarantees to its residents. Attempts to provide economic security are intended to act as a check on market volatility, which historians argue has grown more crucial in the years after the demise of the Soviet Union and the supremacy of market capitalism. It may be even more critical in view of falling worker bargaining strength in post-industrial economies such as the United States since the 1970s and the economic uncertainty induced by COVID-19. 

Cultural norms influence what is included in the list of criteria for economic security, implying that both what qualifies as economic security and how it is calculated to have evolved through time. To assess economic security, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), an organisation that works to strengthen global economic security, has established five essential livelihood outcomes: 

• Food consumption 
• Food production 
• Living conditions 
• Income 
• The capacity of civil society organisations and the government to meet people’s needs 

In Article 25, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) delineates the right to a reasonable standard of living and to “security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in the circumstances beyond their control.”