How the Recognition of Human Capability Variances Impact on Public Policies Globally - Coursework Example

Human Development Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Date: Introduction The field of economics has developed and evolved over the years. In this case, the sector has over the years incorporated a series of new ideas. One of the fundamental changes in the economic phenomenon was the emergence of welfare economics. In this case, welfare economics was a new economics section that focused on evaluating the overall social wellbeing of the economic factors, besides focusing the statistical economic growth elements in the market. In this regard, Sen developed the capability approach in the late 1980s (Sen, 1999, p.15). This was an additional social welfare concern and approach in the welfare economics literature. In this case, the approach focused on the evaluation of human capabilities and potential. In particular, the approach focused on reviewing the nature and extent to which the capabilities of different individuals influenced their social welfare in the society. Moreover, the approach developed a further in-depth analysis of the process and nature to which different external and societal factors shape and influences the individual capabilities in the market. This essay offers a critical review of the different ideas developed under the capabilities approach that have a direct impact on human development in the society. Moreover, the essay evaluates how the recognition of human capability variances impact on public policies globally. Critical Analysis The conceptual approach as developed by Sen has a number of new ideas on human capabilities that it introduced to the welfare economics literature. In this case, one of the fundamental pillars and basis for the development of these ideas was the understanding that human capability development was not as a result of internal factors only, but also as a result of external society factors, As such, the approach argued that although different individuals could have the same internal intrinsic capability potential, different environments and factors would lead to varied capability levels in the long run periods. This section evaluates the different ideas developed in the capability approach and how they relate to human. Individual Differences One of the floated ideas by the capability approach was that individual’s ability to convert specific resources into functioning’s. In this case, the approach argues that different people had different abilities to utilize and convert different resources in the market. In this case, the approach argued that the availability of resources is not an enough determinant for the evaluation of human capability. In this case, although different people in different nations could have the different outcomes and development extents. This was based on the individual situations (Nussbaum, 2011, p.89). For instance, people with special needs in the society would require additional support resources to facilitate their achieve flexibility as compared to those without special needs. In this case, the analysis argued that the existing systems that evaluated on the availability of resources were insufficient. As such, the approach criticized the traditional utilinitarianism consequentialism approach. On its part, the approach argued that the individual actions on the utilization of resources and human development were based on the outcomes of the actions. As such, rather than focusing on the process and justifications of such actions, the utilitarianism approach focused on the final outcomes of such actions. In this regard, the capability approach argued that in the evaluation of the consequences of an action, the individual factors of such a situation should be evaluated. This led to the emergence of the fairness evaluation in the execution of human development policies. An instance through which this idea has been most viable in human development evaluation has been in the evaluation of life expectancy level policies. In this case, although different regions have differing life expectancy levels, there are the overall longer life expectancy levels over the women than men (Nussbaum, 2000, p.72). However, in the development of human development policies in these regions, the capability approach argues that it would be unfair to develop policies favouring the men over women in the market. As such, the capability approach argues that due to the fact that such longer life expectancy in women is mostly biological, they cannot be discriminated against on such basis. The adoption of this approach in developing human development policies has allowed for increased social justice globally. Adaptive Preferences An additional idea and argument floated by the capability approach is the adaptive preferences approach. In this case, the approach argue that individual tend to blend in with the existing external environmental factors. In this case, the existing conditions in the market, creates a definition of what can be achieved and what remains of value to such a society (Gasper, 2007, p.172). As such, this creates the mental satisfaction and understanding of the sufficiency of the respective situations. In this case, the approach argued that the evaluation of the mental satisfaction of the different people as a measure of human development. In this case, the approach argues that rather than relying on the mental evaluation of the respective members, it is relevant to include the perception of a neutral party. The idea application has been applied in the evaluation of human development index in terms of society living standard as well as the level of poverty in the society. In this case, in the evaluation of health, it is apparent that individuals who are sick and with no expectations to recover, often perceive their health as normal, due to the adaptive preference of their conditions. Moreover, in the evaluation of poverty levels in the society, the poor and less earning, with no expectations for future increased higher incomes often resolve to a satisfactory life and living standards. As such, the evaluation of the mental metrics of satisfaction of such society members could illustrate a developing and healthy society, which is contrary to the truth. As such, the capability approach argued that in the evaluation of such human development metrics, a third party neutral approach on the issues should be developed and applied to examine the actual development levels and help overcome the adaptive preference challenge. The application of this approach has enabled the elimination of the challenges emanating from the sum-ranking approach under the utilitarian human development process. In this case, the sum-ranking approach argued for the evaluation of the total overall human development findings and the development of general findings on the level of human development. In this case, the application of this approach limited the evaluation of the distribution of resources in the society. In this case, although some of the society members could have better health, the stable health conditions could not be spread across the society (Robeyns, 2006, p.353). Therefore, the application of a neutral approach to evaluating if the average findings actually represent the perceived society conditions is viable. It allows for the development of human development statistics specific to the market. This has been applied in the development of a number of public policies. For instance, the development of the united nations human development index, allow for the evaluation of not only the average statistical values on health and income levels, but also the evaluation of exceptional cases and issues in the society with respect to heath and poverty respectively. Thus, the above analysis evidences that the development of the adaptive preference idea in human development has greatly impacted on the nature of human development index analysis over the years, and consequently reduced the overall trend for sum-ranking of human development aspects in the society. Functioning’s and Real Freedom The third idea developed by Sen in the concept of real freedom in the society against the achievements known as the functioning’s. In this regard, Comim, Qizilbash and Alkire (2008, p.34) noted that the level of freedoms in the society differ across the globe. This could be cited in the cases of basic rights such as the human rights. In this case, if the society has a large freedom space, where the overall basic human rights are respected, the approach argued that such individuals were bound to acquire increased functioning’s and capability. On the contrary, a less freedom space had the potential to reducing the overall human development. In this regard, the approach stated that rather than evaluating the availability of resources in the society, the availability of freedoms in the society should be analysed. Some of the key freedoms that are directly linked with human capability development include political freedom. In this case, Alexander (2008, p.16) evaluated the difference in human capability development between the dictatorial and democratic leadership systems. In this case, the analysis established that the political nature in the society had a direct impact. As such, the analysis concluded that the human development capability was higher in democratic societies as compared to autocratic societies. In addition, a further freedom in the concept of human development is the concept of economic freedom. In this case, economic freedom could be analysed as the freedom of ownership and ease of doing business in the society as well as ability to advance and grow individual professional careers. In this regard, the capability approach argued that in the evaluation of human development, considerations should not be based on the resources availability only, but the market opportunities and freedoms to exploit such resources. The emergence and use of this functioning’s and real freedom concept in the society has had impacts in the development of public policies. In this case, on one hand, the World Bank developed the ease of doing business and economic freedom evaluation indices. In this case, the indices serves as an evaluation of the level of development and changes in a society. Other area in which the freedom capability approach idea has been applied is in the evaluation of corruption indices globally. In this case, the development of corruption elimination public policies is based on the understanding that the presence of corruption is a limiter in the execution of economic freedom in the society; a virtual that limits the overall functioning’s in the society. In this case, through the development of public policies that limit corruption, there is increased ease of doing business and economic freedom application as a measure of human development in the society (Deneulin and Shahani, 2009, p.53). The above analysis evidences that the capability approach idea on the relationships between functioning’s attainment and freedom experienced has shaped policies. In this case, some of the key policies influenced include the development of corruption elimination and ease of doing business pubic policies among others. Happiness Evaluation An additional concept developed by the Sen Capability approach was the need to adopt an open mind in the evaluation of human development and wellbeing In this case, the approach argued that the human level of happiness should not be applied as the sole base on which the level of life adequacy and satisfaction is evaluated (Bruni, Comim and Pugno, 2008, p.34). Instead, the approach argued that instead of just evaluating the happiness levels, the evaluation process should apply additional measures of life adequacy and satisfaction. However, the approach failed to offer a classification of the different forms and aspects of consideration in the evaluation of human development elements in the society. As such, the approach argued that the development of theories and decisions of the factors and issues to include in the evaluation of the human development aspects remains a political decision for the respective societies in the global market. However, the overall lack of the specific market evaluation and measurement elements in the market formed the key basis for the criticism of the theory. In this case, authors such as Cannon (2009, p.22) argued that the approach was under-theorisised and as such not befitting to be applied a social justice theory. In this context, social justice is the fairness in the society. In this regard, the authors argued that the lack of a centralized and listed human development factors reduced the application abilities of the study in the market. In this case, the arguments argued that through the lack of a shared evaluation process, it would be impossible to develop the overall evaluation for the market base in the market. Problems with Capability Ideas Although the overall application of the capability approach has had numerous impacts on the public policies development, the capability approach development had a number of challenges. This section offers a review of some of the challenges that the application of the approach has faced in the modern world as well as based on its structuring and key theoretical basis on social justice arguments. Individualism The first and key challenge facing the capability approach is the concept of individualism. In this case, the approach is based on the concept that the level of human development. In this case, the approach argues that the human development process is based on individual factors in the market. As such, the critics of this approach argue that it is overly individualistic. Dean (2009, p.267) argued that the approach negates the value of communal values and principles. In this case, it asserted that the values of the different individuals in the society were based on the community and the culture and not the respective individuals. Therefore, the critics argue that rather than focusing on the basic individual influencing factors in the society, the approach should have focused on the societal values. For instance, Crocker (2008, p.97) argued that the evaluation and concept of ethics in the society is influenced by the society values and not on an individual basis. Thus, the evaluation of human development process should be based on the society values and resources distribution rather than individual society members. As a result, the approach is inapplicable in highly communal societies. In such societies, the level of human development is evaluated not based on individual developments, but based on the overall society performance. Therefore, although individuals would be developing and accessing economic freedom and rights individually, the perception of the overall human development is based on the society general performance. As such, in such a society, the application of the sum-ranking is the viable approach through which the actual human development levels are evaluated in the society. Conclusion In summary, the above analysis offers a critical analysis of the capability approach and the alternative capability approaches developed by Sen and Nussbaum’s respectively. In this case, the essay offers a critical review of the ideas developed by the capability approach. On the other hand, the essay offers an evaluation of the impacts of the ideas in public policies development, and the overall challenges of the capability approach application. The essay establishes that among the developed ideas include adaptive preference, happiness evaluation, and individual differences. Moreover, the analysis established that the ideas have influenced a number of public policies development. Such policies include the gender fairness and sensitive life expectancy policies, the use of alternative human development index measures, and the development of economic freedom evaluation by the World Bank among others in the market. However, the essay reveals that challenges such as under-theorisation and over focus on individualism are the main challenges of the capability approach application in evaluating human development in the global societies. References Alexander, J.M. 2008, Capabilities and Social Justice: The Political Philosophy of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, Ashgate, Aldershot, UK. Bruni, L., Comim, F. & Pugno, M. 2008, Capabilities & Happiness, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Cannon, M. E. 2009, Social justice handbook: Small steps for a better world, IVP Books, Downers Grove, Ill. Comim, F., Qizilbash, M. & Alkire, S. 2008, The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Crocker, D.A., 2008, Ethics of Global Development: Agency, Capability, and Deliberative Democracy, Cambridge University Press. Dean, H. 2009, ‘Critiquing Capabilities: The distractions of a beguiling concept’, Critical Social Policy, vol. 29, no.2, pp. 261-78. Deneulin, S., and Shahani, L., 2009, An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach, Earthscan, London, pp, 22-48, 49-56. Gasper, D. 2007, ‘What is the capability approach? Its core, rationale, partners and dangers’, Journal of Socio-Economics, vol. 36, pp. 335-59.Pogge, T.W. 2002, ‘Can the Capability Approach be Justified?’, Philosophical Topics,vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 167-228. Nussbaum, M., 2000, Women and Human Development: The Capability Approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Nussbaum, M., 2011, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach, Harvard University Press, and Cambridge, Mass. Robeyns, I. 2006, 'The Capabilities Approach in Practice', Journal of Political Philosophy, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 351-76. Sen, A., 1999, Development as Freedom, Knopf, New York. Read More