Compare methods

	Capability Approach Measurement	Multidimensional Deprivation Analysis
Field	Development Studies	Development Studies
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1999	2003
Originator	Amartya Sen; Martha Nussbaum	Anthony B. Atkinson; Sabina Alkire & James Foster
Type	Normative framework for evaluating well-being and development	Family of multidimensional deprivation measurement approaches
Seminal source	Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN: 9780385720274	Atkinson, A. B. (2003). Multidimensional Deprivation: Contrasting Social Welfare and Counting Approaches. Journal of Economic Inequality, 1(1), 51-65.
Aliases	Capability Approach, Sen's Capability Approach, Functionings and Capabilities Measurement, Human Capability Framework	Counting Approach to Deprivation, Deprivation Dashboard Analysis, Multidimensional Deprivation Measurement, Overlapping Deprivation Analysis
Related	4	4
Summary	The capability approach, developed by Amartya Sen and given a concrete list-based form by Martha Nussbaum, evaluates individual well-being and social arrangements in the space of capabilities — the real freedoms people have to achieve the kinds of lives they have reason to value — rather than in the space of income, resources, or subjective utility. Measurement under the approach means identifying valued functionings, the resources and conversion factors that turn resources into functionings, and the freedom people enjoy to choose among them.	Multidimensional deprivation analysis is the broad family of methods for measuring and describing disadvantage across several dimensions at once — health, education, living standards, work, and more — rather than through income alone. It spans the counting approach championed by Anthony Atkinson and formalized by Sabina Alkire and James Foster, the dashboard tradition of reporting deprivation indicators side by side, fuzzy-set treatments that soften sharp thresholds, and overlap analysis that asks whether the same people are deprived in many dimensions. The unifying questions are how to decide who is deprived in each dimension, how to identify the multiply deprived, and whether to summarize deprivation in one index or display it as a panel of indicators.