Abstract

HERNANDEZ LAOS, Enrique. Well-being, Poverty and Vulnerability in Mexico: New Estimations. Economía UNAM [online]. 2006, vol.3, n.9, pp.14-32. ISSN 1665-952X.

An appropriate focus for the analysis of poverty must not only consider the sum of satisfiers and their usefulness, but also individuals' "abilities" to function in society, or what according to Sen constitute the "skills to do things using means and resources to that end." That is, poverty, insofar as it is an absolute notion in the sphere of abilities, takes on a relative form in the sphere of goods and their characteristics. In practice, however, the idea of abilities is not exempt from conceptual vagaries and ambiguities in its implementation.