Entitlement Approach Flashcards
what is entitlement theory (Sen 1981)
- first to challenge view that famine caused by shortage of food
- ‘starvation is characteristic of some people not having enough to eat. it is not the characteristic of there not being enough food to eat’
- what is crucial is whether particular individuals or households had access to sufficient food
importance of entitlement approach
1) stressed need to examine each famine in its own particularity
- sen presented framework to analyse famines
2) move to study of specific persons or households rather than whole populations
- e.g. landless or fishermen
3) focused on relationships
- considered importance of ownership relations and other forms of entitlement that distorted access
basic principle of entitlement approach
concentrates on each persons entitlements to commodity bundles of food
- starvation results from failure to be entitled to any bundle with enough food
individuals have 4 main categories to entitlement relations
1) trade based entitlement
2) production based entitlement
3) own labour entitlement
4) inheritance or transfer entitlement
two components of entitlements
1) that which is owned
- endowment
2) that which can be obtained through exchanging that endowment
- exchange
set of alternative bundles of commodities which can be exchanged for individuals owns depends on various factors such as:
- whether or not individual can obtain employment and wage rate
- ability to sell non-labour assets and prices he faces
- ability to sell commodities produced with own labour and other resources
- cost of purchasing inputs and the price for the output which can be sold
- level of entitlements such as social security, or tax liability
- institutions of economic system
a person is reduced to starvation if there is a change…
to his endowments
- e.g. loss of labour power due to ill health, crop failure, livestock die, flooding of land
to his exchange entitlements
- e.g. fall in wages, rise in food prices, loss of employment, drop in price of good he buys and sells
how do endowments and exchange entitlements work in tandem
- endowments collapse
- triggers food price rise
- ‘distress sales’ of assets at rapidly falling prices
- increase in displaced labour searching for work which reduces wages
- leads to collapse in exchange entitlements
strengths of entitlement theory - shifts thinking
- directs attention from conventional supply side analysis towards symptoms of demand failure
- changes focus from aggregates of food availability per capita to the access to food of individuals or groups
strengths of entitlement theory - shifts policy
- food availability may be constant but ownership and exchange entitlements may be skewed which causes famine
- offers framework for more effective famine anticipation, prevention and relief but interventions differ depending on cause
types of interventions
employment programmes
- food in exchange for work is more effective
- may miss vulnerable people (young and old) as they can’t work
cash for work or cash handouts
- to restore entitlements
- may be inflationary
- cash may not be available whereas food is
strengths of entitlement approach - explains boom famines
explains both boom and slump famines
- uneven economic expansion can mean boom for some but greater vulnerability for others
boom famine is characterised by…
failure of exchange or trade entitlements as food prices rise for some
boom famines - great bengal 1943
war time boom economy drove up prices faster than wages of agricultural labourers not protected by urban food rationing/price controls
- 3 million agri labourers died
strengths of entitlement theory - why is food exported
explains why food can be exported from an area while people starved
- irish famines 1840s, bangladesh famines 1974, ethiopia 1973 and 1985
- merchants and traders won’t move food to famine victims when their needs aren’t translated into money demands
