Chronic poverty and entitlement theory

Abstract

This paper examines chronic poverty in the developing country context within the entitlement theory approach. The dialogue on entitlement theory originally introduced by Sen is extended here to explore poverty and its persistence, or chronic poverty. A conceptual framework is presented, in which poverty and its persistence are explained within the context of the individual's economic and non-economic situation and development incentives. These attributes are influenced by the individual's entitlements. It is shown that poor endowments and resource base are important causes of persistent poverty. Policies aimed at reducing poverty therefore must address problems associated with improving the entitlements of individuals and households. The definition of ‘entitlements’ in the paper is not restricted to material possessions—the economic entitlements of the individual or the household—but is extended to incorporate the individual's skills, education and productive ability—the non-economic entitlements. The discussion is rooted in the increasing awareness of multidimensional poverty. The paper focuses on rural poverty in certain parts of India, where most of India's chronic poverty is situated. Over a million people can be classified as chronically poor in terms of duration, severity and deprivation. This is despite the government's commitment to the eradication of poverty since the early 1950s, with a total expenditure of nearly $7 billion in the past 50 years.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Andrew Sumner for his detailed comments on the paper. Helpful suggestions made by Trevor Parfitt are also acknowledged. The author would also like to thank Peter Smith and Sally Srinivasan for their help with the early drafts of the paper.

Notes

1 While some of the basic tenets of the framework have roots in the works of Aristotle, Adam Smith and Karl Marx, Nussbaum (1988; 1992; 1995; 1998; 2000; 2004) has developed it further as the foundation for a partial theory of justice. Nussbaum's work focuses on the political and the moral – legal contexts of nations (Robeyns, 2005).

2 Some capabilities are an end in themselves—the functionings—and also a means to other capabilities, such as the capability of being nourished. While this is an end in itself, it is also a means to being healthy and having the capability to work.

3 The one dollar a day (US$1.08 at 1993 prices) is one indicator, while national poverty lines, mostly based on the daily calorie requirement, as in the case of the Indian Poverty Line, are other economic measures of poverty.

4 The dollar a day poverty line classifies 433 million people in India as below the poverty line (World Bank, 2001: 7); according to the much lower national poverty line, 260 million people are below the poverty line (GoI, 2001: 166).

5 A special issue of World Development (31, 2003) has examined the multiple dimensions of chronic poverty through papers on conceptual frameworks for understanding it, on the search for effective intervention policies and on some national level studies on chronic poverty. The special issue emphasises both the need for understanding the causes along with the dynamics of poverty and the search for development policies that can benefit the chronically poor.

6 66.9% of the total working population and 85% of the rural working population was employed in agriculture in 1991 (GoI, 1991). The figure remains high, at almost 60%, in 2001.

7 The basic tenets of these models were first discussed by Nurkse (1953).

8 The Indian states of Kerala, Haryana and Punjab, all with rural literacy levels of over 55%, have the highest output per hectare in the country, while the number of non-agricultural households in poverty was lowest in Kerala, the state with the highest literacy in India (Quibria, 1994).

9 Total livestock owned by 100 landless households/100.

10 The evaluation of the programme in 1993 revealed that just under 15% of the assisted families were able to cross the poverty line (Chelliah & Sudarshan, 1999).

11 In states like Kerala, with 90% literacy (GoI, 1991), such costs for the poorest tenth of the population account for 10% of the per capita consumption expenditure. These costs were as high as 230% of the annual per capita consumption expenditure for the poorest tenth of the population in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.