The German Capability Index—An Operationalization of Sen’s …
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4.1 Methodological Background
The methodological background of the presented approach is the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The
HDI of the UNDP is published regularly in the Human Development report (HDR)
[71]. The concept of the HDI is based methodologically on Sen’s capability approach
[68, 71].
The UNDP selected three essential conditions (i.e. functionings, namely health,
education and access to natural resources (energy, water, etc.)) for human development, which have a decisive influence on people’s capabilities:
• “to lead a long and healthy life,
• to acquire knowledge and
• to have access to natural resources needed for a decent standard of living [49]”.
These UNDP functionings must be part of the capability budget and thus define
the life people can live. If these three conditions are not fulfilled, people’s options
are reduced or eliminated. In addition, according to UNDP, for human development
further aspects are of central significance: political, economic and social freedom, the
opportunity to have possessions, be productive and creative and to have guaranteed
human rights [71]. A decent life cannot be reduced to the earned income as the sum
of human life [71]. UNDP argues in the tradition of Aristotle that “wealth is evidently
not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something
else (Aristotle 350 BC)”. That “something else” is the opportunity “to realize the full
potential of every human life, not just of a few, nor of most, but of all lives in every
corner of the world—now and in the future [13]”.
Therefore, we can summarize that UNDP and Sen do not focus their analysis
on the goods people produce and consume, but Aristotle’s “something else”, which
enables them to realize their potentials to live the life they want [2–5, 50, 62]. The life
they are capable of living is determined by their own set of functionings and values.
In this welfare concept, “the lives the [household] lead … is of intrinsic importance,
not the commodities or income that they happen to possess. Income, commodities
(‘basic’ or otherwise), and wealth do of course have instrumental importance but
they do not constitute a direct measure of the living standard itself [3]”. The living
standard is defined by the choices people have to live the life they want and to enlarge
thereby their worldwide reach.
We allocated the income, the expenditure and their FEW-nexus connectivity of the
German households to the functionings derived from the UNDP, as Table 7 shows.
The welfare basis in our approach is defined by the earnings and savings of the
household, and a decent life is defined by expenditures for clothing, living and furniture. Nutrition is covered by food, beverages and tobacco expenditures, whereas
mobility is covered by transport costs and education by expenditures for culture
and education. Social participation is described by expenditure for communications,
leisure, services, restaurants and hotels. The FEW-nexus activities of German households are embedded in the direct functionings nutrition and mobility and the indirect
171
4.1 Methodological Background
The methodological background of the presented approach is the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The
HDI of the UNDP is published regularly in the Human Development report (HDR)
[71]. The concept of the HDI is based methodologically on Sen’s capability approach
[68, 71].
The UNDP selected three essential conditions (i.e. functionings, namely health,
education and access to natural resources (energy, water, etc.)) for human development, which have a decisive influence on people’s capabilities:
• “to lead a long and healthy life,
• to acquire knowledge and
• to have access to natural resources needed for a decent standard of living [49]”.
These UNDP functionings must be part of the capability budget and thus define
the life people can live. If these three conditions are not fulfilled, people’s options
are reduced or eliminated. In addition, according to UNDP, for human development
further aspects are of central significance: political, economic and social freedom, the
opportunity to have possessions, be productive and creative and to have guaranteed
human rights [71]. A decent life cannot be reduced to the earned income as the sum
of human life [71]. UNDP argues in the tradition of Aristotle that “wealth is evidently
not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something
else (Aristotle 350 BC)”. That “something else” is the opportunity “to realize the full
potential of every human life, not just of a few, nor of most, but of all lives in every
corner of the world—now and in the future [13]”.
Therefore, we can summarize that UNDP and Sen do not focus their analysis
on the goods people produce and consume, but Aristotle’s “something else”, which
enables them to realize their potentials to live the life they want [2–5, 50, 62]. The life
they are capable of living is determined by their own set of functionings and values.
In this welfare concept, “the lives the [household] lead … is of intrinsic importance,
not the commodities or income that they happen to possess. Income, commodities
(‘basic’ or otherwise), and wealth do of course have instrumental importance but
they do not constitute a direct measure of the living standard itself [3]”. The living
standard is defined by the choices people have to live the life they want and to enlarge
thereby their worldwide reach.
We allocated the income, the expenditure and their FEW-nexus connectivity of the
German households to the functionings derived from the UNDP, as Table 7 shows.
The welfare basis in our approach is defined by the earnings and savings of the
household, and a decent life is defined by expenditures for clothing, living and furniture. Nutrition is covered by food, beverages and tobacco expenditures, whereas
mobility is covered by transport costs and education by expenditures for culture
and education. Social participation is described by expenditure for communications,
leisure, services, restaurants and hotels. The FEW-nexus activities of German households are embedded in the direct functionings nutrition and mobility and the indirect