Health, Capabilities and Functionings: An Empirical Analysis for the UK

We analyse the relationship between socio-economic variables and health outcomes for adult participants in three waves of the British Household Panel Survey from 1999 to 2001. We adopt Sen’s capability approach and compute a capability index ranking individuals on the basis of their ability to transform health and economic resources into health functionings. The results show that, even when controlling for access to health resources, socio-economic variables affect significantly the health functionings in the UK. This suggests the need for more equalitarian access policies to health care facilities.