IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iaw/iawdip/51.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Poverty and Wealth Reporting of the German Government: Approach, Lessons and Critique

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The Capability Approach has been adopted as a theoretical framework for official Poverty and Wealth Reports by the German government. For the first time, this paper provides information on the use of the Capability Approach in this reporting process to international readers. We show the background and processes that might have led the government to adopt Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach as a framework for the reports and describe the Capability-related structure and main contents of the recent 3rd Poverty and Wealth Report. We also explain why the extension of the Capability Approach from poverty to wealth issues in German reports may be promising also for analyses of capability deprivation in general. Finally, we discuss major shortcoming and challenges of the reporting and end with a brief conclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Arndt & Juergen Volkert, 2009. "Poverty and Wealth Reporting of the German Government: Approach, Lessons and Critique," IAW Discussion Papers 51, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    • Handle: RePEc:iaw:iawdip:51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iaw.edu/RePEc/iaw/pdf/iaw_dp_51.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Anand & Cristina Santos, 2007. "Violent crime, gender inequalities and well-being : models based on a survey of individual capabilities and crime rates for England and Wales," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 117(1), pages 135-160.
    2. Alkire, Sabina, 2005. "Valuing Freedoms: Sen's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283316.
    3. Juergen Volkert, 2006. "European Union Poverty Assessment: A Capability Perspective," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 359-383.
    4. Ingrid Robeyns, 2005. "The Capability Approach: a theoretical survey," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 93-117.
    5. Atkinson, Tony & Cantillon, Bea & Marlier, Eric & Nolan, Brian, 2002. "Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253494.
    6. Sudhir Anand & Amartya Sen, 2000. "The Income Component of the Human Development Index," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 83-106.
    7. Chiappero-Martinetti, Enrica & Moroni, Stefano, 2007. "An analytical framework for conceptualizing poverty and re-examining the capability approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 360-375, June.
    8. Elke Holst & Anne-Katrin Stahn, 2007. "Spitzenpositionen in großen Unternehmen fest in der Hand von Männern," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 74(7), pages 89-93.
    9. Daniel T. Slesnick, 1998. "Empirical Approaches to the Measurement of Welfare," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2108-2165, December.
    10. Sen, Amartya, 1999. "Commodities and Capabilities," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195650389.
    11. Basu, Kaushik & Kanbur, Ravi (ed.), 2008. "Arguments for a Better World: Essays in Honor of Amartya Sen: Volume I: Ethics, Welfare, and Measurement," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199239115.
    12. Paul Anand & Graham Hunter & Ian Carter & Keith Dowding & Francesco Guala & Martin Van Hees, 2009. "The Development of Capability Indicators," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 125-152.
    13. Ortrud Lessmann, 2009. "Conditions of Life, Functionings and Capability: Similarities, Differences and Complementary Features," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 279-298.
    14. Sen, Amartya, 1983. "Poor, Relatively Speaking," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 153-169, July.
    15. Christian Arndt & Jürgen Volkert, 2006. "Amartya Sens Capability-Approach: ein neues Konzept der deutschen Armuts- und Reichtumsberichterstattung," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 75(1), pages 7-29.
    16. Christian Arndt & Jürgen Volkert, 2007. "A Capability Approach for Official German Poverty and Wealth Reports: Conceptual Background and First Empirical Results," IAW Discussion Papers 27, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    17. repec:cep:sticas:/120 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Burchardt, Tania & Vizard, Polly, 2007. "Definition of equality and framework for measurement: final recommendations of the equalities review steering group on measurement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6218, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Amartya Sen, 1997. "Inequality, Unemployment and Contemporary Europe," STICERD - Development Economics Papers - From 2008 this series has been superseded by Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers 07, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jürgen Volkert & Friedrich Schneider, 2011. "The Application of the Capability Approach to High-Income OECD Countries: A Preliminary Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 3364, CESifo.
    2. Margherita Bussi & Stephan Dahmen, 2012. "When ideas circulate. A walk across disciplines and different uses of the ‘capability approach’," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 91-95, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jürgen Volkert & Friedrich Schneider, 2011. "The Application of the Capability Approach to High-Income OECD Countries: A Preliminary Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 3364, CESifo.
    2. Christian Arndt & Jürgen Volkert, 2007. "A Capability Approach for Official German Poverty and Wealth Reports: Conceptual Background and First Empirical Results," IAW Discussion Papers 27, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    3. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Towards a multidimensional poverty index for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 655-683, November.
    4. Volkert Jürgen, 2009. "Unternehmen als Agenten der Armutsüberwindung und Entwicklung. Ihr Beitrag aus Sicht von Ordoliberalismus und Capability-Ansatz / Corporate potentials to fight poverty and foster human development. Or," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 60(1), pages 389-414, January.
    5. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Towards a multidimensional poverty index for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 655-683, November.
    6. Christian Arndt & Jürgen Volkert, 2006. "Amartya Sens Capability-Approach: ein neues Konzept der deutschen Armuts- und Reichtumsberichterstattung," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 75(1), pages 7-29.
    7. Martin Binder, 2014. "Subjective Well-Being Capabilities: Bridging the Gap Between the Capability Approach and Subjective Well-Being Research," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1197-1217, October.
    8. Andrea Brandolini, 2007. "On Synthetic Indices Of Multidimensional Well-Being: Health And Income Inequalities In France, Germany, Italy And The United Kingdom," CHILD Working Papers wp07_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    9. Fotis Papadopoulos & Panos Tsakloglou, 2015. "Chronic material deprivation and long-term poverty in Europe in the pre-crisis period," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/16, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    10. D. Jayaraj & S. Subramanian, 2007. "Out of School and (Probably) in Work," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 2(2), pages 177-226, July.
    11. Andrea Brandolini, 2013. "Poverty," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Reciprocity and Social Enterprise, chapter 26, pages 261-270, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Maurizio Pugno, 2015. "Capability and Happiness: A Suggested Integration From a Dynamic Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1383-1399, December.
    13. Karen Hofmann & Dominik Schori & Thomas Abel, 2013. "Self-Reported Capabilities Among Young Male Adults in Switzerland: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of a German, French and Italian Version of a Closed Survey Instrument," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 723-738, November.
    14. Nicolai Suppa, 2012. "Does Capability Deprivation Hurt? – Evidence from German Panel Data," Ruhr Economic Papers 0359, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Deka, Devajyoti, 2022. "Trip deprivation among older adults in the context of the capability approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    16. Veronika V. Eberharter, 2018. "Capability Deprivation, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantages—Empirical Evidence from Selected Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-22, December.
    17. James Foster, Christopher Handy, 2008. "External Capabilities," OPHI Working Papers 8, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    18. Gries, Thomas & Naudé, Wim, 2011. "Entrepreneurship and human development: A capability approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 216-224.
    19. Hojman, Daniel A. & Miranda, Álvaro, 2018. "Agency, Human Dignity, and Subjective Well-being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-15.
    20. Leßmann, Ortrud, 2012. "Indikatoren im Capability-Ansatz und der Bezug zur Nachhaltigkeit: Welchen Beitrag kann der CA leisten?," UFZ Discussion Papers 16/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iaw:iawdip:51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rolf Kleimann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iawtude.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.