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Poverty and Wealth Reporting of the German Government: Approach, Lessons and Critique

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Abstract

The Capability Approach has been adopted as a theoretical framework for official Poverty and Wealth Reports by the German government. For the first time, this paper provides information on the use of the Capability Approach in this reporting process to international readers. We show the background and processes that might have led the government to adopt Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach as a framework for the reports and describe the Capability-related structure and main contents of the recent 3rd Poverty and Wealth Report. We also explain why the extension of the Capability Approach from poverty to wealth issues in German reports may be promising also for analyses of capability deprivation in general. Finally, we discuss major shortcoming and challenges of the reporting and end with a brief conclusion.

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  • Christian Arndt & Juergen Volkert, 2009. "Poverty and Wealth Reporting of the German Government: Approach, Lessons and Critique," IAW Discussion Papers 51, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    • Handle: RePEc:iaw:iawdip:51
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    Cited by:

    1. Jürgen Volkert & Friedrich Schneider, 2011. "The Application of the Capability Approach to High-Income OECD Countries: A Preliminary Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 3364, CESifo.
    2. Margherita Bussi & Stephan Dahmen, 2012. "When ideas circulate. A walk across disciplines and different uses of the ‘capability approach’," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 91-95, February.

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