The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications

634 Pages·2008·2.38 MB·English

by  Flavio Comim

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The Capability Approach
The capability approach developed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has
become an important new paradigm in thinking about development.
However, despite its theoretical and philosophical attractiveness, there
hasbeenscepticismabouttheusefulnessoftheapproachforpurposesof
measurementandpolicyanalysis.Thisvolumeaddressestheseissuesinthe
contextofpovertyandjustice.PartIoffersasetofconceptualessays,some
ofwhichdebatethestrengthoftheoftenmisunderstoodindividualfocus
ofthecapabilityapproach.PartIIinvestigatesthetechniquesbywhichwe
canmeasureandcomparecapabilities,andhowwecanintegratetheminto
povertycomparisonsandpolicyadvice.Finally,PartIIIlooksathowwe
can apply the capability approach to different regions and contexts.
Written by a team of international scholars, The Capability Approach is
avaluableresourceforresearchersandgraduatestudentsconcernedwith
the debate over the value of the capability approach and its potential
applications.
FLAVIO COMIM isDirectoroftheCapabilityandSustainabilityCentreat
StEdmund’sCollege,UniversityofCambridge.
MOZAFFAR QIZILBASH is Professor of Politics, Economics and Philo-
sophyattheUniversityofYork.
SABINA ALKIRE is Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human
DevelopmentInitiative(OPHI)attheUniversityofOxford.

The Capability Approach
Concepts, Measures and Applications
Editedby
FLAVIO COMIM,
MOZAFFAR QIZILBASH
and
SABINA ALKIRE
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521862875
© Cambridge University Press 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-39889-6 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-86287-5 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pageviii
Listoftables ix
Listofcontributors xii
Listofacronyms xiv
Acknowledgements xvi
Introduction
SabinaAlkire,MozaffarQizilbashandFlavioComim 1
1 Usingthecapabilityapproach:prospectiveandevaluative
analyses
SabinaAlkire 26
PartI Concepts 51
2 AmartyaSen’scapabilityview:insightfulsketchor
distortedpicture?
MozaffarQizilbash 53
3 Sen’scapabilityapproachandfeministconcerns
IngridRobeyns 82
4 Beyondindividualfreedomandagency:structuresof
livingtogetherinthecapabilityapproach
Se´verineDeneulin 105
5 Doesidentitymatter?Ontherelevanceofidentity
andinteractionforcapabilities
MiriamTeschlandLaurentDerobert 125
6 Measuringcapabilities
FlavioComim 157
v
vi Contents
PartII Measures 201
7 Doconceptsmatter?Anempiricalinvestigationofthe
differencesbetweenacapabilityandamonetary
assessmentofpoverty
CaterinaRuggeriLaderchi 203
8 SocialexclusionintheEU:acapability-basedapproach
FotisPapadopoulosandPanosTsakloglou 242
9 Complexityandvaguenessinthecapabilityapproach:
strengthsorweaknesses?
EnricaChiappero-Martinetti 268
10 OperationalisingSen’scapabilityapproach:theinfluence
oftheselectedtechnique
SaraLelli 310
11 Operationalizingcapabilitiesinasegmentedsociety:
theroleofinstitutions
KanchanChopraandAnanthaKumarDuraiappah 362
PartIII Applications 383
12 Democracy,decentralisationandaccesstobasicservices:
anelaborationonSen’scapabilityapproach
SantoshMehrotra 385
13 Reinforcinghouseholds’capabilitiesasawaytoreduce
vulnerabilityandpreventpovertyinequitableterms
Jean-LucDuboisandSophieRousseau 421
14 Capabilitiesoverthelifecourse:atwhatagedoespoverty
damagemost?
ShahinYaqub 437
15 Socialpolicyandtheabilitytoappearinpublicwithout
shame:Somelessonsfromafoodreliefprogramme
inKinshasa
TomDeHerdt 458
Contents vii
16 Thecapabilityapproachandgenderededucation:some
issuesofoperationalisationinthecontextoftheHIV/AIDs
epidemicinSouthAfrica
ElaineUnterhalter 489
17 WomenandpovertyinMozambique:isthereagender
biasincapabilities,employmentconditionsandliving
standards?
PierGiorgioArdeniandAntonioAndracchio 510
18 Fromthequantitytothequalityofemployment:
anapplicationofthecapabilityapproachtothe
Chileanlabourmarket
KirstenSehnbruch 561
Index 597
Figures
0.1 Schematicoverviewofmulti-dimensionalpovertyfor
individuali page9
1.1 ‘ProspectiveandEvaluativeAnalyses:Distinctbut
integrallyrelated’ 33
6.1 DrawingbyaBrazilianchildcarriedoutaspartofthe
anthropologicalexercisefor‘Voceˆ Apita’ 189
6.2 Satisfactionandpersonalincome 191
6.3 Schematicrepresentationsofcounterfactuals 192
6.4 Buildingcapabilityindicators:bringingtogetherconcepts
andprioritiesandgoals 195
7.1 Thedistributionofreportedmorbiditybydecile 228
7.2 Graphshowinghowchildrenwithoutthefifthgradeof
primaryschoolingaredistributedbydeciles 229
10.A.1 Graphicrepresentationsofmembershipfunctions 353
11.1 Aschematicillustrationoftheprocessbywhich
resources,endowmentsandattributesaretransformed
tofunctioningsandcapabilities 365
11.2 Relationshipbetweendegreeoffreedomand
institutionalefficiencyandeffectiveness 369
11.3 Relationshipbetweeninstitutionalefficiencyand
effectivenesswiththeproportionofpeopleableto
accessanduseinstitutions 370
11.4 Freedom:Apublicgood(1),aclubgood(2)ora
privategood(3)? 371
13.1 Adaptingthecapabilityapproach 424
13.2 Twocomplementarypolicies:poverty(expost)and
vulnerability(exante) 425
15.1 Humiliationaffectingagency 472
viii