Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 

About: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Capability approach & Human development (humanity). It has an ISSN identifier of 1945-2829. Over the lifetime, 528 publications have been published receiving 9924 citations.

The Development of Capability Indicators

Abstract: This paper is motivated by sustained interest in the capabilities approach to welfare economics combined with the paucity of economic statistics that measure capabilities at the individual level. Specifically, it takes a much discussed account of the normatively desirable capabilities constitutive of a good life, argued to be comprehensive at a high level of abstraction, and uses it to operationalize the capabilities approach by developing a survey instrument to elicit information about capabilities at the individual level. The paper explores the extent to which these capabilities are covariates of a life satisfaction measure of utility and investigates aspects of robustness and subgroup differences using standard socio-demographic variables as well as a relatively novel control for personality. In substantial terms, we find there is some evidence of quantitative, but no qualitative, gender and age differences in the capabilities-life satisfaction relationship. Furthermore, we find that indicators from a wide range of life domains are linked to life satisfaction, a finding that supports multi-dimensional approaches to poverty and the non-materialist view that people do not just value financial income per se. Our most important contribution, however, is primarily methodological and derives from the demonstration that, within the conventions of household and social surveys, human capabilities can be measured with the aid of suitably designed statistical indicators.

The Ends and Means of Sustainability

Abstract: The idea of ‘sustainability’ received serious attention in the so-called Brundtland Commission Report that has many attractive features. In particular, it highlighted the importance of intergenerational justice while maintaining a concern for the poor of each generation and shifted the focus away from resources to human beings. I argue that this way of understanding sustainability, while a great improvement, is still incomplete. There are important grounds for favouring a freedom-oriented view, focusing on crucial freedoms that people have reason to value. Human freedoms include the fulfilment of needs, but also the liberty to define and pursue our own goals, objectives and commitments, no matter how they link with our own particular needs. Human beings are reflective creatures and are able to reason about and decide what they would like to happen, rather than being compellingly led by their own needs—biological or social. A fuller concept of sustainability has to aim at sustaining human freedoms, rather ...

The Relational Ontology of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach: Incorporating Social and Individual Causes

Abstract: While Sen has written extensively on the social factors of capabilities, the exact nature of these social factors and how they interact to form and influence capabilities is contested and unclear. Consequently, how to coherently integrate social components into capability research remains a concern for those attempting to put the capability approach to practical use. This paper proposes one approach to understanding and integrating the social nature of capabilities. Building upon two recent contributions by Martins, we argue that underpinning Sen’s notion of capabilities is an ontological conception of a relational society. In this perspective, an individual’s capabilities emerge from the combination and interaction of individual‐level capacities and the individual’s relative position vis‐a‐vis social structures that provide reasons and resources for particular behaviors. Crucially, this conception of society is predicated upon a contextual notion of causality that is flexible enough to incorpora...

Capabilities, Entitlements, Rights: Supplementation and Critique

Abstract: Capabilities are closely related to human rights. Capabilities are important human entitlements, inherent in the idea of basic social justice, and can be viewed as one species of a human rights approach. This paper explores this relationship, expanding on earlier publications, notably Capabilities and Human Rights (1997), Women and Human Development (2000), Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements (2003), and Frontiers of Justice (2005). Capabilities are complementary to and augment, rather than competing with, human rights. Capabilities can supplement the language of rights in clarifying the basic concept of human rights, by emphasizing the material and social aspect of all rights and the need for government action to protect and secure all rights. They also ground entitlements in the lives of ordinary people, without tying them down to a specific cultural context. Human rights can also supplement the language of capabilities. Human rights makes clear that the idea of capabilities is not an opti...

The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of Millennium Development Goal Targets for Human Development and Human Rights

Abstract: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were heralded as opening a new chapter in international development, and have led to the use of global goals and target-setting as a central instrument defining the international development agenda Despite this increased importance, little is understood about how they influence policy priorities of key stakeholders, and their broader consequences While quantification is the key strength of global goals, it also involves simplification, reification and abstraction, which have far-reaching implications for redefining priorities This paper highlights the key findings and conclusions of the Power of Numbers Project, which undertook 11 case studies of the effects of selected MDG goals/targets, including both the empirical effects on policy priorities and normative effects on development discourses, and drew specifically on human rights principles and human development priorities While the Project found that the effects varied considerably from one goal/target