وعلى أساس الاستحقاق، “يمكن للشخص أن يكتسب بعض القدرات، أي القدرة على عمل هذا أو ذاك (بمعنى أن يكون حسن التغذية)، والإخفاق في اكتساب بعض القدرات الأخرى”. انظر أمارتيا ش، “التنمية: ما هو السبيل الآن؟” المجلة الاقتصادية، المجلد 93 (1983).
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).