Practice question · Multiple choice
Sen argued that what matters is what a person is able to do and to be, rather than the income they hold. How does that reframing change what a poverty measure should try to capture?
Hints
- Ask what the same income buys for a person with a disability, a long commute or no local services.
- Two people with identical incomes can have very different real options.
Show the answer
C. It treats income as a means to opportunities, measuring capabilities instead of resources.
Why
The conversion rate from income to capability differs across people and places: illness, disability, care responsibilities and the availability of public services all change what a given sum makes possible. Sen’s point is not that income is irrelevant but that it is an instrument whose effectiveness varies, which is precisely what a resource-based threshold cannot see.
Practise Inequality, Poverty and Social Exclusion
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