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Subjective well-being poverty vs. Income poverty and capabilities poverty?

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  • Geeta Gandhi Kingdon
  • John Knight

Abstract

The conventional approach of economists to the measurement of poverty is to use measures of income or consumption. This has been challenged by those who favour broader criteria, such as fulfilment of 'basic needs' and the 'capabilities' to be and to do things of intrinsic worth. This paper asks: to what extent are these different concepts measurable, to what extent are they competing or complementary, and is it possible for them to be accommodated within an encompassing framework? We conclude that it is possible to view subjective well-being as an encompassing concept, which permits us to quantify the relevance and importance of the other approaches and of their component variables. Any attempt to define poverty involves a value judgment as to what constitutes a good quality of life or a bad one. We argue that an approach which examines the individual's own perception of well-being is less imperfect, or more quantifiable, or both, as a guide to forming that value judgement than are the other potential approaches. The argument is illustrated using a South African household survey.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Journal of Development Studies.

Volume (Year): 42 (2006)
Issue (Month): 7 ()
Pages: 1199-1224

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Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:42:y:2006:i:7:p:1199-1224

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References

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  1. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2000. "Identifying welfare effects from subjective questions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2301, The World Bank.
  2. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi & Knight, John, 2007. "Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 69-90, September.
  3. Gardner, Jonathan & Andrew Oswald, 2002. "Does Money Buy Happiness? A Longitudinal Study Using Data on Windfalls," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 81, Royal Economic Society.
  4. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2001. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," CESifo Working Paper Series 503, CESifo Group Munich.
  5. John F. Helliwell, 2002. "How's Life? Combining Individual and National Variables to Explain Subjective Well-Being," NBER Working Papers 9065, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May.
  7. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2002. "Self-rated economic welfare in Russia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1453-1473, September.
  8. Winkelmann, Liliana & Winkelmann, Rainer, 1998. "Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy? Evidence from Panel Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 1-15, February.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Rik Linssen & Luuk Kempen & Gerbert Kraaykamp, 2011. "Subjective Well-being in Rural India: The Curse of Conspicuous Consumption," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 57-72, March.
  2. Abdallah, Saamah & Thompson, Sam & Marks, Nic, 2008. "Estimating worldwide life satisfaction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 35-47, March.
  3. Labeaga, José M. & Molina, José Alberto & Navarro, María, 2011. "Deprivation using satisfaction measures in Spain: An evaluation of unemployment benefits," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 287-310, March.
  4. David A. Clark, 2007. "Adaptation, Poverty and Well-Being: Some Issues and Observations with Special Reference to the Capability Approach and Development Studies," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-081, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  5. Dorrit Posel & Daniela Casale, 2011. "Relative standing and subjective well-being in South Africa: The role of perceptions, expectations and income mobility," Working Papers 210, Economic Research Southern Africa.
  6. Jorge Guardiola & Teresa Garcia-Muñoz, 2009. "Subjective well-being and basic needs: Evidence from rural Guatemala," ThE Papers 09/03, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
  7. Asadullah, Niaz & Chaudhury, Nazmul, 2012. "Subjective Well-Being and Relative Poverty in Rural Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 6569, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Corazzini, Luca & Esposito, Lucio & Majorano, Francesca, 2012. "Reign in hell or serve in heaven? A cross-country journey into the relative vs absolute perceptions of wellbeing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 715-730.
  9. Dartanto, Teguh & Shigeru, Otsubo, 2013. "Measurements and Determinants of Multifaceted Poverty: Absolute, Relative, and Subjective Poverty in Indonesia," Working Papers 54, JICA Research Institute.
  10. Oni, Omobowale A. & Adepoju, Temitayo A., 2011. "A capability approach to the analysis of rural households' wellbeing in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 34508, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  11. Francisco Gonzalez-Gomez & Jorge Guardiola & Teresa Garcia-Muñoz, 2009. "The link between water access and subjective well-being: some methods and proposals," ThE Papers 09/02, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
  12. Shams, Khadija, 2012. "What does a well-being perspective add to our understanding of poverty?," MPRA Paper 40132, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  13. Bookwalter, Jeffrey & Fitch-Fleischmann, Benjamin & Dalenberg, Douglas, 2011. "Understanding life-satisfaction changes in post-apartheid South Africa," MPRA Paper 34579, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  14. Bookwalter, Jeffrey T. & Dalenberg, Douglas R., 2010. "Relative to What or Whom? The Importance of Norms and Relative Standing to Well-Being in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 345-355, March.

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