Die Rolle der Wahlfreiheit in der Armutsbekämpfung / The Role of Freedom of Choice in Poverty Alleviation

Ortrud Leßmann

ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 2009, vol. 60, issue 1, 415-434

Abstract: The Capability Approach as well as the Conditions-of-Life-Approach view poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon that is not only characterised by lows levels of achievement in the various dimensions but also by a restricted opportunity to choose among from a set of different ways of life. The approaches thus put a lot of emphasis on (limited) freedom of choice as a crucial aspect of poverty. If poverty is seen in this way there are two ways to improve the situation of the poor: by broadening the set of opportunities open to them or by strengthening their ability to choose. The paper concentrates on the latter.The paper arrives at three general conclusions: first, the market is an institution that trains the ability to choose if certain preconditions are met which are necessary in order to ensure the functioning of the market (namely freedom from interference and absence of externalities). Secondly, democracy is a political institution that demands people’s ability to choose and, thus, strengthens this ability, too. Thirdly, education can and should play an important role in encouraging and training the ability to choose. These general findings are rather abstract and quite a lot has still to be done in order to fill the gap between theoretical findings and their actual application in the process of poverty alleviation.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1515/ordo-2009-0120

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