Abstract
In his Commodities and Capabilities (1985a), Amartya Sen argues that economic development should be viewed first and foremost as a process of expansion of people’s capabilities.1 The common practice of focusing on the growth of national production, he points out, may only too easily lead to a commodity-centred approach in which economic progress is pursued as an end in itself rather than as a means towards the higher objective of enriching human life. After all, the quality of human life is not determined by the commodities that people are instrumental in producing; nor is it determined by the goods that they receive —for instance as part of a basic-needs package. Rather, what matters is what people are capable of being, or doing, with the goods to which they have access.
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© 1999 Henny Romijn
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Romijn, H. (1999). Introduction. In: Acquisition of Technological Capability in Small Firms in Developing Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230389809_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230389809_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-40691-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-38980-9
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