Reinforcing households' capabilities as a way to reduce vulnerability and prevent poverty in equitable terms

Dubois, Jean‐Luc; Rousseau, S.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511492587.014

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…A policy that distorts the capacity for being responsible would imply a shift in the ordering structure of capabilities, and this could have a negative impact on the well-being of people, even if the policy had been intended to enhance it. 6 Secondly, the capability structure affects not only the achievement of well-being, but also the person's vulnerability (Dubois and Rousseau, 2001). More precisely, the level of vulnerability depends on how a person combines his/her set of capabilities within his/her personalized structure in order to cope better with risks (Rousseau, 2001).…”

Section: Responsibility and The Capability Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Responsibility for Each Other's Freedom: Agency as the Source of Collective Capability

Ballet¹,

Dubois²,

Mahieu³

2007

Journal of Human Development

108

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This paper tries to extend Sen's capability approach by introducing the issues of personal responsibility and collective capability, in addition to those of individual capability and collective responsibility. In addressing the issue of the subject's responsibility, we turn to the phenomenological tradition. This approach uses the concept of the person rather than that of the individual. In the analytical philosophy tradition the individual�is defined by a set of freedoms and capabilities. The phenomenological approach, in contrast, views the person as embedded in a network of social relationships that determine a set of rights and obligations. In most situations, personal obligations have to be satisfied before the person can move on to satisfy his/her rights and freedoms. This means that freedom is viewed as being derived from responsibility, thus inversing the order of the capability approach. The subject's responsibility becomes fundamental, and a part of the 'richness' of the person. Responsibility expresses the capability to feel and be responsible, not only ex-post (i.e. once freedom has been exercised), but also ex-ante, by the capacity to exercise self-constraint on a voluntary basis in order to satisfy one's obligations towards others. Within his or her structure of capabilities, the person has to manage the twofold interacting sets of freedoms and responsibilities during the decision-making process. When we consider the person's agency, introducing responsibility leads, via commitment and social interactions, to a stronger vision of agency. However, this vision, which includes responsibility and social interactions, generates a collective capability that can be represented by a structure composed of the various personal capability structures.Agency, Collective capability, Person, Responsibility, Social sustainability,

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Section: Responsibility and The Capability Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Responsibility for Each Other's Freedom: Agency as the Source of Collective Capability

Ballet¹,

Dubois²,

Mahieu³

2007

Journal of Human Development

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The closer the individual is to being definitely poor, the greater his vulnerability. In Dubois and Rousseau (2001), vulnerability is a person's own structure of "capabilities" that enables that person to replace (or not) one capability with another in the event of an exogenous shock. The loss of a job would therefore have a greater impact on an individual with less leeway to work in different occupations and a low level of economic and social capital.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employment Vulnerability and Earnings in Urban West Africa

2010

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Abstract:In this article, we develop indicators of vulnerability in employment in seven economic capitals of West Africa (Abidjan, Bamako, Cotonou, Dakar, Lome, Niamey, and Ouagadougou) and study their links with individual incomes from the main job. We draw on data from the 1-2-3 Surveys in 2002-2003 to make a cross-country comparison using rigorously the same variables and methodology for each country. The theory of compensating differentials states that workers may receive pecuniary compensation commensurate with the strenuous or hazardous nature of their tasks or adverse working conditions. Our interpretation of the link between employment status and incomes draws on these developments, applying them to both working conditions themselves and more broadly to vulnerability in employment. The main tested assumption is that high levels of employment vulnerability could be compensated by greater earnings. Following recent work by Fernandez and Nordman (2009), we allow for individual and job characteristics (the latter being used to construct the composite index of vulnerability) to be differentially valued for conditionally high and low income earners.Our composite index of employment vulnerability indicates that 85% of the private sector workers in all the economic capitals studied are vulnerable on the basis of at least one criterion. The results show that the average impact of vulnerability on earnings is generally negative for an average level of vulnerability. In the formal private sector of the West African cities, losses of income due to vulnerability are lower for high levels of vulnerability, but do not translate into gains. In the informal sector, however, the average predicted income for a high vulnerability level is higher than the average predicted income for a low vulnerability level. The assumption that average gains may compensate for a certain level of vulnerability is thus confirmed in the informal sector. Quantile earnings regressions show that the impact of vulnerability on earnings is not uniform, particularly in the informal sector where the marginal impact of vulnerability is often positive for higher deciles of the conditional earnings distribution. Consequently, even for average levels of vulnerability, premium pay is found for workers at the top of the distribution. Lastly, we show that the different aspects of vulnerability have diverse impacts on earnings. While there is no compensation for contractual insecurity and itinerant and solitary jobs, visible underemployment generally has a positive impact on the average incomes of workers in these West African cities. Résumé:Dans cet article, nous construisons des indicateurs de la vulnérabilité au travail dans sept capitales économiques d'Afrique de l'Ouest (Abidjan, Bamako, Cotonou, Dakar, Lomé, Niamey, Ouagadougou) et étudions leurs liens avec les revenus individuels de l'activité principale. Selon la théorie des salaires compensatoires, les travailleurs pourraient recevoir des compensations pécuniaires à hauteur de la pénibilité de leu...

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“…Yet according to Hart (2013), promoting the capability to aspire in a supportive environment is a necessary dimension to help young people achieve their educational goals. Such support and encouragement develops a potential to reduce their vulnerability (Dubois and Rousseau, 2008).…”

Section: Aspirations and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in accessing higher education: A case study of marginalised young people in one South African informal settlement

Walker

Mkwananzi

2015

International Journal of Educational Development

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Reinforcing households' capabilities as a way to reduce vulnerability and prevent poverty in equitable terms

Cited by 23 publications

References 3 publications

Responsibility for Each Other's Freedom: Agency as the Source of Collective Capability

Responsibility for Each Other's Freedom: Agency as the Source of Collective Capability

Employment Vulnerability and Earnings in Urban West Africa

Challenges in accessing higher education: A case study of marginalised young people in one South African informal settlement

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