Capability Approach, explained.
The capability approach examines substantive opportunities people can genuinely access. Resources are means, capabilities are feasible options, and functionings concern actual doing or being.
Why it happens
Equal personal resources can coexist with different conversion conditions. Transport, infrastructure, and social arrangements can determine whether a resource holder can actually use an opportunity.
The capability approach evaluates substantive opportunities people have reason to value, not resources or satisfaction alone. Capabilities concern feasible options, while functionings concern what people actually do or become.
Read the result
Fund and undo the three access projects while comparing Central and Remote. Personal tokens stay equal; available options change. The board records options without forcing any resident to exercise them or summing their wellbeing.
A worked example
The same money, different practical options
Central and Remote each start with four personal tokens, but only Central has access to the three stated services.
Use two public tokens for a bus, opening training access in Remote without changing either neighbourhood's personal resource allocation.
Compare available options before and after. The intervention changes a conversion condition rather than proving that residents now achieve identical outcomes.
OPTIONAL DEEPER DETAILGo deeper: inside the model
Inside this model
Central and Remote each have four personal resource tokens. Central already has access to training, healthcare, and remote work; Remote initially lacks the corresponding infrastructure. A separate six-token public budget funds three two-token projects, each opening one option. No resident is forced to use an option and no welfare sum is assigned.
Where this idea is useful
A practical use
Equal cash does not by itself overcome a transport or infrastructure barrier.
A common misconception
“Giving everyone equal resources guarantees equal freedom.”
Different personal, social, and environmental conditions can change what resources make feasible. Equality of inputs alone does not establish equality of substantive opportunity.
What this explanation leaves out
- Three binary options and equal project costs simplify Sen's and Nussbaum's distinct frameworks. The board does not define a complete capability list, rank real communities, or measure achieved wellbeing.
Why not give the neighbourhoods a happiness score?
The activity distinguishes options from subjective satisfaction and achieved outcomes. Assigning one welfare number would conceal distinctions the capability approach asks readers to examine.
Which barrier prevents a resource that looks adequate on paper from becoming a real option?
Associated thinkers
Associations marked provisional are awaiting source review.
Further reading
Explore the original research or the teaching reference behind this experiment.