The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 10
Tables......Page 11
Contributors......Page 14
Acronyms......Page 16
Acknowledgements......Page 18
Introduction......Page 21
Concepts......Page 22
Measures and applications......Page 27
Concluding remarks......Page 36
Cited references......Page 37
The focal question......Page 46
Evaluative framework: limitations......Page 48
Prospective and evaluative analyses: complementarities......Page 51
Ethical individualism......Page 54
Critiques......Page 55
Terms: collective and group capabilities......Page 58
Methods of prospective analyses......Page 61
Prospective analyses: education in India......Page 63
Possible ways forward......Page 65
Evaluation of the ‘evaluative framework’......Page 66
Cited references......Page 67
PART I Concepts......Page 71
Introduction......Page 73
Locating Sen’s CA: a comparison with J. S. Mill......Page 74
The choice and options applications of the CA......Page 79
Incompleteness and capability consequentialism......Page 82
Broad brush or precise point?......Page 88
Conclusions......Page 95
Cited references......Page 96
Introduction......Page 102
Sen’s capability approach revisited......Page 104
Human diversity and the evaluation of functionings and capabilities......Page 106
Individualism and feminism......Page 110
The vulnerability of an underspecified framework......Page 114
Conclusion......Page 120
Cited references......Page 121
Introduction......Page 125
Individual freedom in Sen’s capability approach......Page 127
Structures of living together......Page 131
Meaning and values......Page 137
Individual agency and its socio-historical conditions......Page 140
Conclusion......Page 142
Cited references......Page 143
Introduction......Page 145
Sen’s view of individuals and identity......Page 149
Introducing ‘identity’ into the evaluation of the quality of life......Page 161
The influence of social interaction on people’s capabilities......Page 166
Conclusion......Page 173
Cited references......Page 174
Introduction......Page 177
Part 1: conceptual level......Page 179
Valuational foundation......Page 182
Human diversity......Page 186
Objectivity......Page 190
Counterfactual nature......Page 193
Data......Page 197
Multidimensionality and aggregation......Page 200
Weighting and incompleteness......Page 203
Part 3: the proof of the pudding......Page 205
First step: anthropological exercise......Page 207
Second step: structuring the survey......Page 209
Third step: facing the CA tenets......Page 210
Fourth step: choosing indicators......Page 214
Fifth step: statistical analysis......Page 215
Sixth step: reconciling two levels of analysis......Page 216
Concluding remarks......Page 217
Cited references......Page 218
PART II Measures......Page 221
7 Do concepts matter? An empirical investigation of the differences between a capability and a monetary assessment of poverty......Page 223
Introduction......Page 224
Poverty as capability deprivation......Page 225
Comparing alternative approaches to poverty measurement......Page 227
Choosing indicators of basic capabilities......Page 231
An aside on subjective morbidity data......Page 233
The methodology......Page 236
The empirical results......Page 237
The relation between morbidity and monetary poverty......Page 238
Capabilities production functions: morbidity......Page 240
Morbidity: summing up......Page 245
Children’s educational achievements and monetary poverty......Page 246
Capabilities production functions: children’s achievements......Page 250
Children’s achievements: summing up......Page 252
Conclusion......Page 254
Cited references......Page 258
Introduction......Page 262
Social exclusion and capabilities......Page 263
Data and methodology......Page 265
Deprivation, cumulative disadvantage and social exclusion......Page 267
Population groups at high risk of social exclusion......Page 275
Conclusions......Page 284
Appendix I......Page 285
Cited references......Page 286
Introduction......Page 288
Complexity......Page 290
Vagueness......Page 295
Vagueness and other related concepts......Page 302
Intrinsic complexity and intrinsic vagueness in the capability approach......Page 304
From theory to practice: how complex and vague concepts can be measured......Page 307
Conclusion......Page 322
Cited references......Page 323
Introduction......Page 330
The core concepts of the capability approach......Page 331
Identifying functionings by factor analysis......Page 333
Identifying functionings by fuzzy sets theory......Page 336
Selection and estimation of membership functions......Page 337
From membership degrees to fuzzy sets: how to aggregate fuzzy subsets......Page 340
The data......Page 341
Assessment of functionings according to factor analysis......Page 344
Functionings’ assessment according to the fuzzy methodology......Page 348
A first glance at correlations and some summary characteristics of the derived functionings......Page 350
Multivariate analysis of functionings......Page 353
Concluding remarks......Page 371
Appendix......Page 373
Cited references......Page 380
Introduction......Page 382
The Sen paradigm of freedom functionings and capabilities......Page 384
Institutions, freedom and exclusion......Page 388
Protective security in eastern India......Page 392
Risk minimization......Page 394
Migration and environmental degradation: expanding capabilities in a rural community in western India......Page 395
Synopsis and recommendations......Page 399
Cited references......Page 401
PART III Applications......Page 403
Introduction......Page 405
Three extensions of the capability approach......Page 406
Capability-enhancing accountability and the nature of the state......Page 410
Moves towards democratic decentralisation in India......Page 414
Elementary schools: cake for the rich, fodder for the poor......Page 416
Democratic decentralisation to realise schooling for all – the case of Madhya Pradesh......Page 417
Schooling: the synergy of collective voice and state action in Rajastan......Page 422
Health: accountability to the community in Sub-Saharan Africa......Page 425
The right to information – the steel-frame of deep democratic decentralisation......Page 427
Further examples of successful service delivery through democratic decentralisation......Page 429
History favours democracy and decentralisation......Page 432
Summing up......Page 434
Cited References......Page 437
Introduction......Page 441
The relevance of the capability approach......Page 442
The basic definition......Page 443
A few of capability’s components......Page 444
Risk and vulnerability......Page 446
Introducing security as a way to relate to social justice......Page 450
Back to the issue of equality......Page 451
Conclusion......Page 452
Appendix: elements for a conceptual formalisation......Page 454
Cited references......Page 455
Introduction......Page 457
Functionings, capabilities and time......Page 459
Economic mobility over the lifecourse......Page 461
Functionings over the lifecourse......Page 464
Intrauterine predictors......Page 465
Childhood predictors......Page 466
Early adult predictors......Page 468
Conclusion......Page 469
Cited references......Page 470
Introduction......Page 478
Targeting problems in food emergency programmes......Page 480
Malnourishment and the inability to appear in public without shame......Page 486
Capability-oriented reasoning, plural concerns and public shame......Page 503
Annex: Specification of indicators of household wealth......Page 505
Cited references......Page 506
16 The capability approach and gendered education: some issues of operationalisation in the context of the HIV/AIDs epidemic in South Africa......Page 509
Education and capabilities......Page 511
The capability approach and policy on gender, HIV/AIDs and education in South Africa......Page 516
Refining the understanding of education in the capabilities approach......Page 524
Cited references......Page 525
Introduction......Page 530
Formal vs. informal male and female employment......Page 534
Formal and informal employment status and type of work......Page 538
Income distribution and gender in Mozambique......Page 545
Consumption expenditure, income, and gender......Page 548
Formal and informal employment, gender and consumption-based indicators of poverty......Page 556
Capabilities as indicators of well-being and poverty......Page 562
Asset-based indicators of poverty......Page 568
Conclusions and further work......Page 574
Cited references......Page 578
Introduction......Page 581
Labour market developments as a fall out of other development policies......Page 582
The labour market as a vehicle of individual development and expanded capabilities......Page 584
Applying the capability approach to employment: defining the quality of employment......Page 586
Applying the capability approach to employment: from the quantity of employment to the quality of employment......Page 588
An indicator of the quality of employment......Page 591
Income......Page 592
Social security......Page 593
Contractual status......Page 595
Stability of employment: tenure......Page 596
Training......Page 597
Potential uses of the index......Page 599
Segments of the labour force with low quality employment......Page 601
Individuals in the index......Page 606
Conclusion......Page 611
Appendix......Page 613
Cited references......Page 614
Index......Page 617