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Barriers to Improved Capability for Low-income Canadians

Author

Listed:
  • Jerry Buckland

    (210–520 Portage Ave. Winnipeg, Mb., R3C 0G2, Canada)

  • Antonia Fikkert

    (4700 Keele Street, Toronto, On. M3J 1P3, Canada)

  • Rick Eagan

    (588 Queen St. West, Toronto, On., M6J 1E3, Canada)

Abstract

This article examines barriers to improved well-being for low-income Canadians. It uses the capability approach to explore how personal, institutional and banking factors interact to create obstacles to improved capability. It does this by relying on financial life histories from 15 low-income people living in inner-cities in Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. The financial life histories are a qualitative method in which respondents were recruited using a snowball sampling method, and asked to share personal stories about their life and financial goals. Respondents are, by Canadian standards, acutely poor and several faced multiple personal barriers including mental illness and substance abuse. The results indicate that participants experienced many more periods of declining, as compared with improving, capability. Respondents identified a series of personal (e.g., illness and addiction), structural (e.g., poorly funded education and low-levels of social assistance support), and banking (e.g., high banking fees and limited appropriate services) obstacles to their improved capability. Most respondents noted that they faced several obstacles at once that created powerful unfreedoms to improved capability. Weak banking services in the neighbourhoods was an important factor in limiting the capability of the respondents.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerry Buckland & Antonia Fikkert & Rick Eagan, 2010. "Barriers to Improved Capability for Low-income Canadians," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 22(4), pages 357-389, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jinter:v:22:y:2010:i:4:p:357-389
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    File URL: http://jie.sagepub.com/content/22/4/357.abstract
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    Cited by:

    1. Martha A. Starr, 2014. "Qualitative And Mixed-Methods Research In Economics: Surprising Growth, Promising Future," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 238-264, April.

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