Economic Ethics and the Capability Approach

This chapter introduces the capability approach and discusses its role in economic ethics. More specifically, we discuss the concept of well-being and freedom underlying the general capabilitarian framework and argue that a number of characterizing features of the capability approach, such as its focus on ends instead of means or the conception of freedom employed in it, makes it particularly well suited for the evaluation of institutions and economic systems in economic ethics. The article concludes by pointing to a number of limits and constraints of the capabilitarian framework in economic ethics.