Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This editorial questions the implications of the capability approach for health economics. Two specific issues are considered: the evaluative space of capablities (as opposed to health or utility) and the decision‐making principle of maximisation. The paper argues that the capability approach can provide a richer evaluative space enabling improved evaluation of many interventions. It also argues that more thought is needed about the decision‐making principles both within the capability approach and within health economics more generally. Specifically, researchers should analyse equity‐oriented principles such as equalisation and a ‘decent minimum’ of capability, rather than presuming that the goal must be the maximisation of capability. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.