Capabilities, Lists, and Public Reason: Continuing the Conversation
TL;DR: In this paper, Amartya Sen addresses the question why he is disinclined to provide a fixed list of capabilities to go with his general capability approach and argues that public reasoning and discussion are necessary for selecting relevant capabilities and weighing them against each other in each context.
Abstract: Amartya Sen addresses the question why he is disinclined to provide a fixed list of capabilities to go with his general capability approach. Capability assessment can be used for different purposes (varying from poverty evaluation to the assessment of human rights or of human development), and public reasoning and discussion are necessary for selecting relevant capabilities and weighing them against each other in each context. It would be a mistake to build a mausoleum for a “fixed and final” list of capabilities usable for every purpose and unaffected by the progress of understanding of the social role and importance of different capabilities.
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TL;DR: The capability approach is a broad normative framework for the evaluation and assessment of individual well-being and social arrangements, the design of policies, and proposals about social change in society.
Abstract: This paper aims to present a theoretical survey of the capability approach in an interdisciplinary and accessible way. It focuses on the main conceptual and theoretical aspects of the capability approach, as developed by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, and others. The capability approach is a broad normative framework for the evaluation and assessment of individual well‐being and social arrangements, the design of policies, and proposals about social change in society. Its main characteristics are its highly interdisciplinary character, and the focus on the plural or multidimensional aspects of well‐being. The approach highlights the difference between means and ends, and between substantive freedoms (capabilities) and outcomes (achieved functionings).
2,221 citations
Cites background from "Capabilities, Lists, and Public Rea..."
...Sen ( 2004 b) has responded to these criticisms by pointing out that the problem is not with listing important capabilities in themselves, but with endorsing one predetermined list of capabilities....
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TL;DR: This paper proposed a new methodology for multidimensional poverty measurement consisting of an identification method ρk that extends the traditional intersection and union approaches, and a class of poverty measures Mα.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new methodology for multidimensional poverty measurement consisting of an identification method ρk that extends the traditional intersection and union approaches, and a class of poverty measures Mα. Our identification step employs two forms of cutoff: one within each dimension to determine whether a person is deprived in that dimension, and a second across dimensions that identifies the poor by ‘counting’ the dimensions in which a person is deprived. The aggregation step employs the FGT measures, appropriately adjusted to account for multidimensionality. The axioms are presented as joint restrictions on identification and the measures, and the methodology satisfies a range of desirable properties including decomposability. The identification method is particularly well suited for use with ordinal data, as is the first of our measures, the adjusted headcount ratio. We present some dominance results and an interpretation of the adjusted headcount ratio as a measure of unfreedom. Examples from the US and Indonesia illustrate our methodology.
2,040 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed a new methodology for multidimensional poverty measurement consisting of an identification method ρk that extends the traditional intersection and union approaches, and a class of poverty measures Mα.
1,677 citations
662 citations
TL;DR: The main merits of the approach is the need to address these judgmental questions in an explicit way, rather than hiding them in some implicit framework as mentioned in this paper, and one of the main merits is that there can be substantial debates on the particular functionings that should be included in the list of important achievements and corresponding capabilities.
Abstract: There can be substantial debates on the particular functionings that should be included in the list of important achievements and the corresponding capabilities. This valuational issue is inescapable in an evaluative exercise of this kind, and one of the main merits of the approach is the need to address these judgmental questions in an explicit way, rather than hiding them in some implicit framework.2
403 citations
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Book•
01 Jan 1985
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the relationship between well-being and Sex Bias in India and some international comparative comparisons of the two domains, and present a survey of the relationship.
Abstract: 1. Interest, Well-being and Advantage. 2. Commodities and Their Use. 3. Utility, Desire and Happiness. 4. Functioning and Well-being. 5. Valuation and Ranking. 6. Information and Interpretation. 7. Well-being and Advantage. Appendix A: Some International Comparisons. Appendix B: Well-being and Sex Bias in India. Subject Index. Name Index.
4,734 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the modern world's hunger and deprivation, including undernutrition and undernutrition, and public action and economy and society, the State and the public.
Abstract: Part 1 Hunger in the modern world: entitlement and deprivation nutrition and capability society, class and gender. Part 2 Famines: famines and social response markets, famines and intervention strategies of entitlement protection experiences and lessons. Part 3 Undernutrition and deprivation: production entitlements and nutrition economic growth and public support China and India experiences of direct support. Part 4 Hunger and public action: economy and society the State and the public.
1,719 citations
Book•
17 Sep 1987
TL;DR: Amartya Sen reconsiders the idea of "the standard of living" and suggests an interpretation in terms of the "capabilities and freedoms" that states of affairs do or do not allow as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Amartya Sen reconsiders the idea of ‘the standard of living’. He rejects the more conventional economic interpretations in terms of ‘unity’ and of wealth or ‘opulence’, and suggests an interpretation in terms of the ‘capabilities and freedoms’ that states of affairs do or do not allow. His argument is conceptual, but it refers to a wide range of examples. In elaborations of it, John Muellbauer explains how parts of it might be applied; Ravi Kanbur discusses the difficulties raised by choice ex ante, under uncertainty, and choice ex post; Keith Hart discusses the ways in which one might think about living standards in societies in which there is a substantial amount of what he calls ‘self provisioning’ outside the market; and Bernard Williams reflects on some of the moral and political implications of Sen’s argument. There is a bibliography of most of the more important works on the subject. The book will be of interest to economists, sociologists, students of development and moral and political philosophers; it will also be of interest to those concerned with public policy.
1,034 citations
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this article, the notion of basic capability equality has been proposed as an alternative framework for conceptualizing equality which focuses on the concept of basic capabilities, rather than utilitarian equality, total utility equality, and Rawlsian equality.
Abstract: This is Amartya Sen's famous Tanner lecture in which he articulated his notion of basic capability equality. He examines three central notions of equality, that of utilitarian equality, total utility equality, and Rawlsian equality and shows that neither of these "provide a sufficient basis for the equality-aspect of morality". He proposes an alternative framework for conceptualizing equality which focuses on the notion of basic capabilities.
477 citations