On Sen on the Capability of Capabilities - The Evolution of an Enterprise

This has been developed from the keynote speech of the inaugural Cambridge Capabilities Conference held in 2016 (a similar version is to be published in Anand, P.B., Comim, F.V. and Fennell, S. (eds), [provisional title] 'New Frontiers of the Capability Approach', forthcoming from Cambridge University Press). Using the metaphor of the rise of a global not-for-profit business, it tells the story as I know it of the evolution of Amartya Sen's deeply influential approach to viewing advantage in terms of capabilities - real, not just formal, opportunities to flourish and to choose the life you have reason to value - and to viewing human development as the enhancement of freedom. Some content overlaps with my chapter on Sen in R. Cord (ed), 'The Palgrave Companion to Cambridge Economics', Vol. 2 (2017) but here the progression of Sen's analysis and coverage of reactions to it are metaphorically framed in terms of activities such as serving an apprenticeship (in social choice), identifying a key gap in the ‘market' (in inadequate consideration of diversity of need), creating a ‘product' to fill the gap with a unique selling point in relation to (utilitarian or Rawlsian) competitors, handling customer complaints (about ease and range of use, reliability and the like), making design modifications (with for example more stress on collective capabilities in Mark II), engaging variously (with basic needs, happiness or alternative capability approaches) in joint ventures, spinoffs and merger or acquisition talks. The ‘audit report' reckons up, and concludes the capabilities approach is here to stay