Una aproximación a la pobreza desde el enfoque de capacidades de Amartya Sen

This paper aims to analyze the main contributions of the capability approach (from the perspective of Amartya Sen) to the concept and measurement of poverty as well as their implications for public policies to overcome it. Poverty as a social problem has been associated with a situation of deprivation. Each theoretical and methodological approach has provided insights into what kind of deprivation leads to an individual or group to be living in poverty. Traditional perspectives have emphasized physiological and materials dimensions, which have derived the best known and used methods of measuring poverty and policies that faces the consequences rather than the causes. However, since a couple of decades ago there have been initiatives that indicate that poverty not only refers to monetary elements but, and more importantly, to the deprivation of basic capabilities. So that based on the scope and limits posed addressing poverty from the capability approach, we argue about the need to move towards articulation of concepts, measures and policies, with the understanding that the state intervention will be more effective if they achieve a multidimensional approach that prioritizes being and doing, rather than having.