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Operationalizing the capability approach to assessing well-being

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  • Agee, Mark D.
  • Crocker, Thomas D.

Abstract

We consider the conditions under which a singular concentration on objective measures of well-being embodied in the capability approach formulation provide unambiguous guidelines to policymakers who seek to reduce discrepancies between potential and realized outcomes. A consensus benefit of the capability approach is its open-endedness regarding what constitutes the evaluative space and thus its adaptability to particular settings. We present the customary formal statement of the approach and a kindred version involving parental care for a child. We show that to unambiguously explain and to predict what happens in the child's evaluative space, whether this space be potential opportunities, realized achievements, or both, the capability approach requires careful attention to the curvatures of those functions as well as variable interactions central to it.

Suggested Citation

  • Agee, Mark D. & Crocker, Thomas D., 2013. "Operationalizing the capability approach to assessing well-being," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 80-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:46:y:2013:i:c:p:80-86
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2013.07.003
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    1. Tiina Ahonen & Tomi Mäki-Opas & Antti Kouvo & Timo Toikko, 2025. "Investigating the Capability Approach: How Long-Term Unemployed People in Finland Perceive Their Access to Commodities, Conversion Factors and Capabilities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 647-669, March.
    2. Phuc Phan & Martin O’Brien, 2019. "Multidimensional Wellbeing Inequality in a Developing Country: A Case Study of Vietnam," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 157-183, August.
    3. Cifuentes, Myriam Patricia & Doogan, Nathan J. & Fernandez, Soledad A. & Seiber, Eric E., 2016. "Factors shaping Americans’ objective well-being: A systems science approach with network analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1018-1039.
    4. Christiana Weber & Anja Fasse & Helen M. Haugh & Ulrike Grote, 2023. "Varieties of Necessity Entrepreneurship – New Insights From Sub Saharan Africa," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(5), pages 1843-1876, September.
    5. Bolin, Kristian & Lood, Qarin, 2021. "Capability, Health, And The Labour Market – The Retirement Decision," Working Papers in Economics 810, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

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    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • B59 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Other
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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