ABSTRACT

The need for a social security system can in different ways be derived from the failure of (some) individuals to c o m m a n d e n o u g h co m mo d i t i e s (including services) to meet the standard of living conventionally defined as the minimum 'acceptable' or 'satisfactory' one. Such a failure may occur for different reasons. Using the concepts of Amartya Sen,1 two parameters will be of fundamental importance in deciding whether an individual will fall short of the minimum acceptable standard: his endowment, i.e. his original ownership bundle (commodities and labor), and his exchange entitlement, i.e. the alternative commodi ty bundles that he can acquire, given his endowment, through trade or through production.