Global inequities and healthcare disparities: can they be eliminated ethically?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengameh Hosseini
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Healthcare Disparities ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Free Banking ◽  
Grameen Bank ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore and propose solutions to global economic inequities and disparities, with a particular focus on healthcare. This paper also aims to explore whether drastic reductions of inequality are justified in terms of conventional economic theory, and whether ending inequality can be viewed as ethical through certain lenses. Design/methodology/approach To seek the response to those questions, the paper uses Pareto optimality; Hicks–Kaldor model; Millian utilitarianism; the ethical theories developed by John Rawls in his 1971 work on ethics as well as his 1999 Law of People; and the capability approach developed by Noble Laureate economists Amartya Sen. As demonstrated, those equalizing works cannot support a policy that would advocate an end to global inequities. Those theories also propose no practical solutions for the end of those extreme inequities. Thus, the paper attempts to present other solutions. Findings This paper discusses two theories that are very helpful in supporting those without much wealth. Mohammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank and its provision of small free-interest loans to poor businesses (in particular women) in Bangladesh has been very successful. Another alternative advocating interest-free banking that was proposed by the proponents of binary economics is discussed. Originality/value The author believes the arguments used to support the theses of this paper be unique and novel.

Disaster justice for people with disabilities

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khanh That Ton ◽  
Carole Adamson
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Capability Approach

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine disaster justice for people with disabilities (PWD).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the capability approach, the article explores distributive injustice that PWD face in dealing with disasters. It discusses procedural justice with a focus on the agency of PWD and their participation in decision-making processes concerning disaster risk reduction.FindingsIt argues that disaster injustice faced by PWD can be construed as the inequalities of capabilities that they experience in coping with disasters. Furthermore, although social structures play an important role in creating and perpetuating disaster injustice, PWD, as agents of change, have power to transform social structures that, in turn, bring about justice for themselves.Originality/valueThe article raises the need for considering the equality of capabilities and human agency in achieving disaster justice for PWD.

“Surplus in Man” and the capability-based sustained/total human development

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-275
Author(s):  
Dilip Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Individual Human ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose – This paper aims to define a capability-based sustained/total human development, after reviewing both the concept of “Surplus in Man” as the source for achieving the Vedântic ideal of transcendence, and the capability approach to human development. Design/methodology/approach – The capability-based sustained/total human development has been defined by integrating the Vedântic concept of “Surplus in Man” and the deontological theories of morality into the basic approach to capability-based human development. Findings – An answer to the question: “How to apply a holistic approach to our daily life?” is outlined. Practical implications – An example is provided on the role of yoga and meditation as the key initial bridging forces between the Western and Eastern concept of mental health. Also, the recent trend in a morally demanding lifestyle of a section of people in the Western societies for moving towards a galloping spiritual pluralism has been exemplified. Originality/value – Role of responsibility of an individual human being along with his or her right has explicitly been emphasized in the approach to capability-based sustained/total human development.

Beyond social capital: a capability approach to understanding Refugee Community Organisations and other providers for “hard to reach” groups

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Refugee Community ◽  
Community Organisations ◽  
Purposive Sample ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of the “capability approach” as an alternative framework for understanding and conceptualising the role of Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) and other providers for groups conventionally considered “hard to reach”. Design/methodology/approach – A study of the education services of RCOs, drawing primarily on semi-structured interviews with 71 users, is put forward as a case study for how the capability approach can be operationalised. Findings – The capability approach is found to offer various valuable insights, relating to its appreciation of the multi-dimensional nature of human wellbeing, the significance of individual diversity, and the importance of human agency. Research limitations/implications – The case study is based on a relatively small purposive sample, and may have limited external validity. As the research design proved strong for exploring how RCOs develop their users’ capabilities but weak for exploring if and how they may also constrict them, further research in this area is required. Practical implications – A number of valuable attributes of the capability approach are highlighted for broadening the understanding, the role of RCOs and other service providers. Social implications – The paper outlines the potential of the capability approach to contribute to policymaking related to RCOs and other providers, and to debates relating to social exclusion, cohesion and integration. Originality/value – The paper draws attention to the value of the capability approach within the field of migration research.

scholarly journals “Happy slaves”? The adaptation problem and identity politics in the writings of Amartya Sen

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1178-1193
Author(s):  
Tony Burns
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Amartya Sen’s notion of adaptation and his views on identity politics by focussing on the issue of slavery and, more specifically, on the example of the happy or contented slave. Design/methodology/approach The paper is text based. The methodological approach adopted is that of conceptual analysis, as is typical for work of this kind. Findings The paper concludes that the example of the happy or contented slave is indeed a fruitful one for those interested in exploring the relationship between Sen’s views on “the adaptation problem” and his views on identity politics, especially in relation to the subjection of women. Here Sen’s debt to the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill is particularly important. Research limitations/implications One implication of the argument of the paper is that there is a need to consider more carefully the differences that exist between the views of Wollstonecraft and Mill, so far as the example of the happy or contented slave is concerned. Practical implications One practical implication of the paper is that, hopefully, it establishes the continued relevance of the ideas of thinkers such as Wollstonecraft and Mill today, not least because of the influence that they have had on theoreticians such as Amartya Sen. Social implications The paper addresses issues which are of considerable social and political significance, especially for women in underdeveloped societies today. Originality/value The example of the happy or contented slave has not received much discussion in the literature on Sen, although Sen himself has suggested that the distinction between happiness and contentment is an important one, which does merit further discussion.

scholarly journals The capabilities and human rights of high performance athletes

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Adams ◽  
Emma Kavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Precise Analysis ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Capability Approach

High performance athletes participate and function in sports systems where exploitative behaviours may become manifest. These behaviours potentially violate an individual athlete’s human rights. Using the Capability Approach first outlined by Amartya Sen the paper details how a more precise analysis of human rights, in the context of high performance sport, may be achieved. Using in-depth narrative accounts from high performance athletes, data illustrate how athlete maltreatment is related to individual capabilities and functionings: the loss of individual freedoms infringes accepted notions of human rights. The implications for practice concern how human rights may be protected within and for systems of high performance production.

Rozeff on free banking: a critique

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136
Author(s):  
Laura Davidson ◽  
Walter E. Block
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Free Banking ◽  
Fractional Reserve Banking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Monetary System ◽  
Fractional Reserve ◽  
Reserve Banking

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to correct Rozeff (2010). He contends that fractional-reserve banking is legitimate and efficacious. The authors demonstrate that it is not. Design/methodology/approach The design of this paper is to quote widely from Rozeff (2010) and then to expose his errors of analysis. Findings The authors demonstrate that fractional-reserve banking is neither legitimate nor efficacious. Originality/value Money is the lifeblood of the economy. If so, then banking is the marrow of the economy, since it is from that sector that money arises in the first place. It is crucially important, then, that the monetary system be based on sound principles. Fractional-reserve banking is a violation of these sound principles. Therefore, it is valuable to demonstrate that this is indeed the case.

Well-Being, Adaptation and Human Limitations*

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 83-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Martha Nussbaum ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Reliable Basis ◽  
The Capability Approach

Philosophical accounts of human well-being face a number of significant challenges. In this paper, I shall be primarily concerned with one of these. It relates to the possibility, noted by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen amongst others, that people’s desires and attitudes are malleable and can ‘adapt’ in various ways to the straitened circumstances in which they live. If attitudes or desires adapt in this way it can be argued that the relevant desires or attitudes fail to provide a reliable basis for evaluating well-being. This is, what I shall call the ‘adaptation problem’. Nussbaum and Sen have—in different ways used this argument to motivate their versions of the ‘capability approach’. However, questions remain about the implications of adaptation for philosophical accounts of well-being.

Approccio delle capacitŕ e sociologia economica: un matrimonio vincente per lo studio delle politiche

2009 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Gianluca Busilacchi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Economic Sociology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
The Capability Approach

- Over the last year the capability approach has been widely used by social scientist. Its success is mainly due to the richness of its theoretical framework and the possibility to enrich the interdisciplinary researches also at the empirical level. However the empirical applications in the field of public policy, especially social policy, are still very limited: what is the reason? And which is the role of economic sociology in contributing to the analysis of social policy endorsing the capability approach? The first part of the paper concerns the explanation of the theoretical framework of the capability approach, through an analysis of its main concepts and empirical applications. Then we will try to see why the capability approach can be especially used by economic sociology, and why this social science can be enriched by the capability approach to analyse social policy with a richer toolbox.Keywords: social policy, capability approach, economic sociology, public policy, Amartya Sen, poverty

Digitalization and rural entrepreneurial attitude in Indonesia: a capability approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fikri Zul Fahmi ◽  
Medina Savira
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose This paper aims to identify how digitalization affects entrepreneurial attitudes in rural areas in Indonesia, a country in the Global South. The development of digital technology can help entrepreneurs, in that faster and easier information acquisition helps rural communities to identify new opportunities and innovate. Yet, digital development generates higher disparity, and thus, not all people can benefit from digitalization. Although digital technology can facilitate the development of entrepreneurship, its benefits depend on individual preferences. In this regard, the capability approach is used so as to reflect how different valuations of digital technology in rural entrepreneurs influence their attitude with regard to recognizing business opportunities and taking risks. Design/methodology/approach A double case study approach is used in which this study examines two cases of rural entrepreneurs in Indonesia that represent different uses of digital technologies and socio-economic rural contexts: coffee entrepreneurs in Kintamani and craft producers in Kamasan village. In so doing, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local entrepreneurs and communities according to purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The qualitative data were then analysed using a constant comparative technique which allows us to develop a conceptual argument by observing patterns within and between the cases. Findings The findings show that digitalization shapes the attitude of rural entrepreneurs differently, although the same opportunity from using digital technology is present in the village. Social and environmental factors facilitate the rural entrepreneurs to consider using digital technology to develop their businesses. However, as each individual entrepreneur has a different valuation of digital technology, the benefits it offers – such as broader market opportunities and new business ideas – vary. Entrepreneurs who consider digital technology to be a valuable resource for developing their businesses are more curious to explore its benefits. Originality/value The capability approach provides a new perspective in understanding rural entrepreneurship. First, the authors demonstrate that the success of rural entrepreneurship is influenced not only by concrete things (e.g. resources) but also the individual perspective on these resources which may vary across entrepreneurs. Second, the authors show not only the potential differences in socio-cultural contexts in which the capability approach is applied but also how socio-cultural values and collectivism influence the individual valuation of resources that could benefit entrepreneurs.

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