Sabina Alkire

Job Title: Director, OPHI

Contact Details:
Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI)
Oxford Department of International Development
Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), University of Oxford
Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK
Tel +44 1865 281744

sabina.alkire@qeh.ox.ac.uk

Biography

Sabina Alkire directs the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), a research centre within the Department of International Development, University of Oxford. In addition, she is a Research Associate at Harvard and Secretary of the Human Development & Capability Association (HDCA). Her research interests include multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis, welfare economics, the capability approach, the measurement of freedoms and human development. Publications include ‘Valuing Freedoms: Sen’s Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction’, as well as articles in Philosophy and Economics. She holds a DPhil in Economics, an Msc in Economics for Development and an MPhil in Christian Political Ethics from Magdalen College, Oxford.

Education

Magdalen College, University of Oxford

1999 D.Phil. in Economics
Thesis: "Operationalizing Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach to Human Development: A Framework for Identifying ‘Valuable’ Capabilities"

1995 M.Sc. in Economics for Development (Webb Medley Prize)
Thesis: "The Full or Minimally Decent Life: Empiricization of Sen’s Capabilities Approach in Poverty Measurement"

1994 Thesis in MPhil in Christian Political Ethics
Thesis: "The Concept of Poverty Alleviation in the World Bank since 1990: A Theological Analysis"

1992 Diploma of Theology (Distinction in Islam)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1989 Bachelors of Arts in Sociology Cognate: Pre-Medical Studies

Selected Publications

Determining BPL Status: Some Methodological Improvements. Sabina Alkire and Suman Seth. 2008. The Indian Journal of Human Development. July-December. 2:2 p 407-424.

"Concepts and Measures of Agency" in Basu, Kaushik and Ravi Kanbur, Eds. Arguments for a Better World: Essays in Honor of Amartya Sen. Volume I: Ethics, Welfare and Measurement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p 455-474.

Choosing Dimensions: The Capability Approach and Multidimensional Poverty” in Kakwani, Nanak and Jaques Silber, Eds. The Many Dimensions of Poverty. Palgrave-MacMillan. 2008

The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications, co-edited with F. Comim and M. Qizilbash. Cambridge: CUP, 2008

Using the Capability Approach: Prospective and Evaluative Analyses” in The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications, F. Comim M. Qizilbash and S Alkire, Eds. Cambridge: CUP, 2008

Alkire, S. (2007) The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Introduction to the Special Issue.  Oxford Development Studies, 35 (4), p. 347-359.

Ibrahim, S. & Alkire, S. (2007) Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators. Oxford Development Studies, 35 (4), p. 379-403.

Measuring Freedoms Alongside Well-Being,” 2007. in I Gough and J A McGregor, eds. Well-Being in Developing Countries: New Approaches and Research Strategies. Cambridge: CUP.

Public Debate and Value Construction in Sen’s Approach,” in Alexander Kaufman, ed. Capabilities Equality: Basic Issues and Problems.  London: Routledge. 2006. p 133-154.

Needs and Capabilities” in The Philosophy of Need. S Reader, ed. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006

Structural Injustice and Democratic Practice: The Trajectory in Sen’s Writings,” in S Deneulin, M Nebel and N Sagovsky, eds. Transforming Unjust Structures: The Capability Approach. Dordrecht: Springer, 2006. p 47-62

Religion and Development” in David Alexander Clark, Ed. The Elgar Companion to Development Studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 2006. p 502-510.

Subjective Quantitative Studies of Human Agency,” Social Indicators Research. 74:1 October 2005. p 217-260.

Why the Capability Approach?Journal of Human Development. March 2005.

Global Health and Moral Values,” with L Chen, The Lancet 364.18 Sept, 2004.

The Role of External Actors,” in V Rao and M Walton, eds. Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.

Concepts of Human Security,” in L Chen, S Fukuda-Parr and E Seidensticker, eds. Human Insecurity in a Global World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.

Valuing Freedoms: Sen’s Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Paperback issued in March 2005.

Dimensions of Human Development,” World Development 30. February 2002. 181-205

Individual Motivation, its Nature, Determinants and Consequences for within Group Behaviour,” with S Deneulin, in J Heyer, F Stewart and R Thorp, eds. Group Motivation and Development: Is the Market Destroying Cooperation? Oxford: OUP, 2002.

A Practical Reasoning Theory of Development Ethics: Furthering the Capabilities Approach,” with R Black, Journal of International Development, April 1997.

Curriculum Vitae

Alkire CV [pdf]

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