The Ethics and Economics of the Capability Approach

Reiko Gotoh is a Professor at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, since 2013. She holds a Ph.D. from Hitotsubashi University. Her research field is Philosophy in Economics, Normative Economics, Reconstruction of Welfare States. Her recent English publications are “Securing Basic Well-being for All,” Review of Social Economy, 76, 4 (with N. Yoshihara) “What political liberalism and the welfare state left behind: chance and gratitude”, H-U. Otto et.al. (eds.), Capability Promoting Policies Enhancing individual and social development, Policy Press. Against Injustice: The New Economics of Amartya Sen, Cambridge University Press, 2009 (co-edited). Social Bonds as Freedom, Berghahn Books (co-edited). In addition, she is the author of several Japanese books including The Capability Approach, Iwanami-shoten. Economic Philosophy of Well-being, Minerva Shobo, EconomicPhilosophy of Justice: Rawls and Sen, Toyo-keizai Inc., 2002. Amartya Sen: Economics & Ethics, Jikkyo Shuppan, 2001 (co-authored).

1 Introduction: Purpose and Summary.- 2  Welfare Economics and the Capability Approach.-  3 Specification and Measurement in the Capability Approach.- 4 An Economic Modeling of Individual Capability.- 5 Philosophical Modification of the Economic Modeling of the Capability Approach: Adaptation, Positionality, and Identity.- 6 From Rawls’s Social Contract to Sen’s Social Choice.- 7 Freedom and Death: Why Did She Not Apply for Public Assistance?.- 8 What Political Liberalism and the Welfare State Left Behind: Chance and Gratitud.- 9 The Birth and Growth of Modern Social Choice Theory: From Arrow to Sen.- 10 Final Remarks: Economic Philosophy of Amartya Sen.-  Epilogue.- References.- Appendix 1 The Capability Theory and Welfare Reform.- Appendix 2 A class of fair distribution rules `a la Rawls and Sen.- Appendix 3 Securing basic well-being for all.