Polymerizable fluorinated ester compounds having formulae (1) and (2) are novel wherein R.sup.1 is H, methyl or trifluoromethyl, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are H or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 may form a ring, R.sup.4 is H, OH or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, and R.sup.5 is an acid labile group. They are useful as monomers to produce polymers for the manufacture of radiation-sensitive resist compositions which have high transparency to radiation having a wavelength of up to 500 nm and exhibit good development properties due to the presence of phenol-like acidic hydroxyl groups ##STR00001##