CV

[Previous research]

John Rawls provided the idea of “democratic equality” in his “A Theory of Justice”. This idea has certainly expanded the scope of the welfare state after the Second World War. However, the shadow of monism closes in upon even this idea. The social choice theory with “public reasoning” and the capability approach were both proposed by A. Sen and they are remarkable in having a possibility to overcome monism.

The capability approach defines an individual’s capability set and his/her evaluation function over the functioning space, as well as his/her budget set and utility function which are defined over the commodity space. This expansion of traditional economic model is simple but powerful. It sheds a new light on the problem of individual rational choice, a classic, recurring theme in economics.

With the social choice theory based on public reasoning, the capability approach makes it possible to construct a new conception of the distributive justice, i.e., the normative equality under factual diversities. This is an equality of well-being and agency freedom, which takes into account disadvantages of individuals in converting commodities into functionings. However, its operational formulation is not obvious.

I have studied how to expand the microeconomic theory based on the capability approach by philosophically reexamining the structure and the meaning of individual rational choice. Moreover I have been exploring a theory of “equality as a norm based on diversity as a fact”.