One way of thinking about development - endorsed by the UNDP and the Brundtland Commission - involves improvements in the quality of life which are equitable. This conception invokes two values - equity and well-being - which can conflict. The potential conflict suggests that countries which are...

Economists have moved away from thinking of development in terms of growth of per capita GNP. The most influential alternative conception of development - due to Amartya Sen - involves judging the quality of life in terms of capabilities and viewing development as a 'capability expansion'. This...

Amartya Sen has argued that poverty is a vague concept. This paper develops a methodology for applying a framework which uses a 'supervaluationist' account of vagueness in the context of poverty. Within this framework people or households are termed 'core poor' if there is no ambiguity about...