Capability approach

The capability approach (also referred to as the capabilities approach) is a normative approach to human welfare that concentrates on the actual capability of persons to achieve lives they value rather than solely having a right or freedom to do so. It was conceived in the 1980s as an alternative approach to welfare economics.

In this approach, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum combine a range of ideas that were previously excluded from (or inadequately formulated in) traditional approaches to welfare economics. The core focus of the capability approach is improving access to the tools people use to live a fulfilling life. Hence, the approach has a strong connection to intragenerational sustainability and sustainability strategies.

Assessing capability

Sen initially argued for five components to assess capability:

The importance of real freedoms in the assessment of a person's advantage

Individual differences in the ability to transform resources into valuable activities

The multi-variate nature of activities giving rise to wellbeing

A balance of materialistic and nonmaterialistic factors in evaluating human welfare

Concern for the distribution of opportunities within society

Subsequently, in collaboration with political philosopher Martha Nussbaum, development economist Sudhir Anand and economic theorist James Foster, Sen has helped propel the capabilities approach to appear as a policy paradigm in debates concerning human development; his research inspired the creation of the UN's Human Development Index (a popular measure of human development that captures capabilities in health, education, and income). Additionally, the approach has been operationalized to have a high income country focus by Paul Anand and colleagues. Sen also founded the Human Development and Capability Association in 2004 in order to further promote discussion, education, and research on the human development and capability approach. Since then, the approach has been much discussed by political theorists, philosophers, and a range of social scientists, including those with a particular interest in human health.

The approach emphasizes functional capabilities ("substantive freedoms", such as the ability to live to old age, engage in economic transactions, or participate in political activities); these are construed in terms of the substantive freedoms people have reason to value, instead of utility (happiness, desire-fulfillment or choice) or access to resources (income, commodities, assets).