Amartya Sen's Capability Approach and Its Application in the Hdrs
Introduction
Hitherto, development has been measured solely by economic indexes, such as accumulation of capital, utilization of international investment, GDP per capita, and many more. Such figures allow easy evaluation and comparison across borders, but fail to account for other less easily quantifiable factors that might also influence development. Recent studies on development look beyond purely financial measures like free choice, medical care availability, education, equality or political freedom.
Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics, made a significant contribution with the concept of “capability” development, according to which government’s performance should be evaluated against the capabilities of their citizens (Sen, 1979). Nevertheless, Sen recognized the relation to Adam Smith’s (1776) analysis of necessities and living conditions and Karl Max’s (1844) concern with human freedom and emancipation, but the strongest connection is with Aristotel’s theory of political distribution and human flourishing (Clark, 2006).
The Capability Approach Explained
It might be easier to start by making clear what the capability approach is not: it does not aim to be a fully specified theory or a complete and standardized means of analyzing human development. Rather, it is a broad and deliberately incomplete normative framework for the evaluation of individual wellbeing and the design of social policies (Robeyns, 2003). The core idea behind it is the centrality of people, what they do and what they manage to be. It shifts the focus away from the traditional emphasis on income but it does not exclude it. It puts income in a different light – it is not money, but what people manage to achieve with money that matters (Sen and Nussbaum, 1993). Unlike all previous approaches, Sen’s paradigm looks beyond mere commodities. It investigates what people are able to achieve with the goods and services they buy, which depends on several conversion factors: personal,
Hitherto, development has been measured solely by economic indexes, such as accumulation of capital, utilization of international investment, GDP per capita, and many more. Such figures allow easy evaluation and comparison across borders, but fail to account for other less easily quantifiable factors that might also influence development. Recent studies on development look beyond purely financial measures like free choice, medical care availability, education, equality or political freedom.
Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics, made a significant contribution with the concept of “capability” development, according to which government’s performance should be evaluated against the capabilities of their citizens (Sen, 1979). Nevertheless, Sen recognized the relation to Adam Smith’s (1776) analysis of necessities and living conditions and Karl Max’s (1844) concern with human freedom and emancipation, but the strongest connection is with Aristotel’s theory of political distribution and human flourishing (Clark, 2006).
The Capability Approach Explained
It might be easier to start by making clear what the capability approach is not: it does not aim to be a fully specified theory or a complete and standardized means of analyzing human development. Rather, it is a broad and deliberately incomplete normative framework for the evaluation of individual wellbeing and the design of social policies (Robeyns, 2003). The core idea behind it is the centrality of people, what they do and what they manage to be. It shifts the focus away from the traditional emphasis on income but it does not exclude it. It puts income in a different light – it is not money, but what people manage to achieve with money that matters (Sen and Nussbaum, 1993). Unlike all previous approaches, Sen’s paradigm looks beyond mere commodities. It investigates what people are able to achieve with the goods and services they buy, which depends on several conversion factors: personal,
References: Alkire, S. (2002). Valuing Freedoms: Sen 's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction. Oxford University Press. Anand, P. & Sen, A. (2000). The Income Component of the Human Development Index. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal for People-Centered Development, 1 (1), pp. 83-106. Anand, P. (2008). Beyond GNP and Current HDI: An Overview of The Capabilities Measurement Project. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from www.open.ac.uk/ikd/events/cap_meas_project.ppt Carpenter, M Clark, D. A. (2006). The Capability Approach: Its Development, Critiques and Recent Advances. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from The Global Poverty Research Group, http://www.gprg.org/pubs/workingpapers/pdfs/gprg-wps-032.pdf Gasper, Des (2002) Kuklys, W. & Robeyns, I. (2004) . Sen’s Capability Approach to Welfare Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/dae/repec/cam/pdf/cwpe0415.pdf Nussbaum, M Nussbaum, M. (2006). Frontiers of justice: disability, nationality, species membership. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Sen, A. (1979) Equality of What? Stanford: University Press. Retrieved on November 8, 2009 from: http://www.tannerlectures.utah.edu/lectures/documents/sen80.pdf Sen, A Sen, A. (1992). Inequality Re-examined. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Sen, A., & Nussbaum, M. (1993). The Quality of Life. Clarendon Press. Sen, A. (2004). Capabilities, lists, and public reason: continuing the conversation. Feminist Economics 10(3):77-80 United Nations Development Programme (2000)