Tackling poverty: Time for fresh thinking and a look at the evidence

Pearson says that the ‘capabilities approach’ of Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has been a critical influence on his thinking. Sen argues that the state should support its citizens to develop capabilities such as good health, literacy, and the ability to participate in community life so that each person can lead a life they value. 

Like Pearson, we believe there is an urgent need to assist those among us who are poor or struggling to develop their capabilities. However, we believe that Sen’s framework leads to a more nuanced and compassionate approach to public policy and that Pearson’s prescriptions for those who are ‘irresponsible’ are inconsistent with Sen’s vision.

Sen is circumspect about the power of unfettered self interest to drive personal and social change. He stresses the need for governments to invest in education, health, nutrition, literacy, social support and social security programs to tackle inequalities of capabilities. But Sen also demands that we give thought to how we work with those in need. Do our interventions and supports promote human agency? Do they empower people so they can lead a life they value? At no point in Sen’s work does he suggest that paternalistic and punitive welfare policies provide an incentive to change harmful behaviour.

A first principle for good public policy is that the solution to a problem must follow from its conditions or causes. In Anti-Poverty Week it is vital that, faithful to the tried and true rather than the tired and ideological, we abandon the approaches that hinge on the “close supervision of the poor”. It is time to invest our energies and resources in policies that respect, listen to and empower those who have been pushed to the edges of the lucky country.