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This research investigated whether Sen's Capability Approach could be applied to two very different programs for human development. The first case study involved a poverty alleviation program based around community gardens in a low-income neighborhood of a moderately sized city in New Zealand. The second was a self-help development project for village women in the Pacific Island nation of Samoa. Sixteen focus groups of participants in the two programs were able to describe significant changes in their capabilities, not only as a result of learning new skills but also as a result of discovering capabilities they already had that could be valuable in creating new opportunities for themselves. This last result is consistent with Sen's emphasis on the importance of participant agency in development.Capability Approach, Focus groups, Samoa, New Zealand,

Choice experiments are used to assess consumer preferences and willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for different food attributes worldwide. These studies also include credence attributes which are the product attributes that are not immediately observable to consumers without appropriate information and labelling, such as animal welfare, food safety, and social responsibility. Although choice experiment application has considered many of these attributes, studies focused on social responsibility are scant. Building on previous work comparing developed and developing countries, this paper focuses on WTP estimation for social responsibility. Surveys of fruit and vegetable consumers were conducted in United Kingdom (UK), Japan, India, and Indonesia in 2015. Results indicate WTP for an increase from minimum to improved standard for social responsibility ranges from 16% to 30% (median), and 6% to 26% (median) from improved to a high standard. Premiums vary between countries but, overall, demonstrate the significant importance of social responsibility consideration in consumer choices. Significant differences on WTP were observed between Japan and other countries, as well as between UK and Indonesia for the improved social responsibility standard, and across UK, Indonesia, and India for the high standard. Findings contribute to increasing understanding of consumer preferences across countries, revealing significant preference heterogeneity towards social responsibility.

Wellbeing in Politics and Policy will bring new lenses through which to understand the significance of the dramatic rise of interest in wellbeing as a goal of public policy. While a number of academic disciplines have been influential in both shaping and seeking to explain developments, the Politics discipline has been relatively silent, leaving important theoretical and empirical insights largely absent from debates: insights that have increasing significance as political interest grows. This series will provide a distinctive addition to the field that puts politics and policy at the centre, while embracing interdisciplinary contributions. Contributions will be encouraged from various subfields of the discipline (e.g., political theory, comparative politics, governance and public policy, international relations) and from those located in other disciplines that speak to core political themes (e.g., accountability, gender, inequality, legitimacy and power). The series will seek to explore these themes through policy studies in a range of settings-international, national and local. Comparative studies-either of different policy areas and/or across different settings-will be particularly encouraged. The series will incorporate a wide range of perspectives from critical to problem-solving approaches, drawing on a variety of epistemologies and methodologies. The series welcomes Pivots, edited collections and monographs.