European Business Schools Librarian's Group

ESSEC Working Papers,
ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School

No DR 09012: Relational Capability: An Indicator of Collective Empowerment

Gaël Giraud () and Cécile Renouard ()
Additional contact information
Gaël Giraud: CNRS, Paris School of Economics, Postal: 106-112, Bd de l’Hôpital, 75013 PARIS, FRANCE
Cécile Renouard: ESSEC Business School, Postal: Avenue Bernard Hirsch - BP 50105, 95021 CERGY PONTOISE Cedex, FRANCE

Abstract: We define a new index for the collective empowerment of populations based on the capability of actors to have relationships and to enter into networks. This index, called “relational capability” (RC), is dynamic in the sense that the weights of its various components vary across time according to how close the population is to some poverty threshold. It relies on a shift of anthropological viewpoint, putting human relationships at the forefront. RC, which can be formalized in gametheoretic terms of networks, paves the way towards the solution of a number of unsolved issues: Reconciling autonomy and interdependence; unifying the aggregation of individual characteristics with the collective level; questioning unjust institutions and political structures within Sen’s and Nussbaum’s framework of capabilities.

Keywords: Empowerment; Escaping Poverty Index; Index; Relational Capability

JEL-codes: I30; I31; I32; I38

18 pages, December 2009

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