Professor Sen has argued that “Ultimately, the process of economic development has to be concerned with what people can or cannot do, e.g. whether they can … read, write and communicate, take part in literary and scientific pursuits.” He continues, “A major failing of traditional … economics has been its tendency to concentrate on supply of goods rather than on ownership and entitlement.” Entitlement in this sense “refer to the set of alternative commodity bundles that a person can command in a society using the totality of rights and opportunities that he or she faces.” On the basis of entitlement, “a person can acquire some capabilities, i.e., the ability to do this or that (e.g., be well nourished), and fail to acquire some other capabilities.” See, Amartya Sen, “Development: which way now?”, The Economic Journal, vol. 93 (1983).
Les droits et avantages, dans ce sens, « renvoient à tous les autres biens qu'un individu peut obtenir dans la société, en utilisant dans leur totalité les droits et les possibilités qui s'offrent à lui. » Sur la base de ces droits et avantages, « une personne peut acquérir certaines capacités (par exemple celle d'être bien nourrie) et ne pas réussir à en acquérir d'autres ».