Substantial debate on the appropriate foundations of economic evaluation in health-care has been conducted between welfarists and non-welfarists in the health economics literature. This has focussed on defining and measuring appropriate outcomes. However, there has been little discussion of the...

This paper provides an introduction to a collection of articles concerning the relevance of Amartya Sen's work, the capability approach and related ethical claims, to health-care rationing.

Amartya Sen's multidimensional capability approach focuses on the importance of freedoms to be or do things people have reason to value. It is an alternative to standard utilitarian welfarism, the theoretical approach to quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and cost-utility analyses. Despite the...