Poverty lines
What is poverty?
A brief outline of Sen's capabilities approach to measuring poverty
Authors:
N. Kakwani
Publisher:
International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, 2006
Much research on poverty has focused on income or consumption-based poverty measures. Yet there is increasing recognition that poverty is multidimensional, encompassing all important human requirements. Poverty is now widely viewed in terms of capability deprivation.
This one-page brief from discusses the key elements of Sen's capability approach to poverty. It explains that, within this approach, the standard of living enjoyed by people must be seen in terms of individual achievements that are feasible – the kind of life people actually lead, and their ability to achieve them – and not in terms of the means individuals possess to meet these aims.
From a capability perspective, poverty arises when basic capability failure is caused by inadequate command over resources, whether through markets, public provision or other non-market channels. If a person is not able to be well nourished, adequately clothed and sheltered, and not able to avoid preventable morbidity, they are therefore deprived of basic capabilities.
The paper asserts that, to reduce poverty, any proposed income measure of poverty should be constructed from capabilities, and the choice of a poverty line should reflect the cost of achieving basic human needs.
