On Capability Approach, Poverty and Corruption

Business School of Shanghai University of Electric Power, 200090 Shanghai, China

^a Corresponding author: hudaojiu@yahoo.com.cn

Abstract

The core of development is to face up with the challenge of the issue of poverty, which directly is associated with the ultimate goal of social, political and economic development. If the poverty has not been properly handled, development will be inefficient and unsustainable. This paper briefly indicates the main idea of Amartya Sen’s capability approach, then utilizing the approach to analyze poverty and the bottleneck in dealing such issues. It illustrates the inter-relationship of capability, poverty and corruption, and demonstrates that corruption is both the cause and the consequence of poverty and the failure of capability. When there corruption comes, the essential power to alleviate and eliminate poverty such as political accountability, transparency, engagement and openness are all spoiled and even wiped off. Political accountability, transparence, engagement are of great importance to both anti-corruption and poverty and promotion of capability. Economic aid for the poor and needy should be reinforced by fostering and promoting the capability of the poor and needy, so that the purpose of eliminating poverty and corruption could be achieved.