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Professor Paul Anand

Profile summary

Research interests

I have held fellowships in Oxford and Cambridge Universities and am currently a Professor at the Open University and Research Associate at HERC in Oxford University. My work stems from long standing interests in the foundations of decision sciences, used to be primarily normative, and have argued for the expansion of decision theory beyond older conceptions of rational choice, something that has, broadly speaking, taken place both in economics and philosophy. In recent years, I have been interested in the operationalisation of Sen’s capabilities approach to welfare economics and its use in debates about the measurement of progress.

Earlier work has been published in a variety of leading economics journals including The Economic Journal, Theory and Decision, Oxford Economic Papers, Economica, Journal of Health Economics, Annals of Operations Research and much of it is collected in my monograph Foundations of Rational Choice Under Risk published by Oxford University Press in 1993 (with reprints in 1995 and 2002). In addition, I have just edited and contributed to the Oxford University Press Handbook of Rational and Social Choice with Professor Prasanta Pattanaik (Riverside, University of California, USA) and Professor Clemens Puppe (Karlsruhe University, Germany) to be published in 2008. Work on capabilities and wellbeing is summarised in greater detail on the capabilities measurement project website.

I have also been interested in the interaction these theories and their development in policy contexts or experimental and survey based work. This work has been published in a wide variety of scientific journals including Science, Journal of Theoretical Politics, British Journal of Management, Social Theory and Practice, Social Indicators Research, Health Care Analysis and the Journal of Economic Psychology.

Having taught research methods at graduate level for five years and acted as a consultant researcher on economic statistics to the OECD and NAO my most recent work brings a these interests together with interests in the foundations of social choice. With about 25 colleagues, at the latest count, I have sought to demonstrate the extent to which the measurement of human capabilities is feasible along multiple dimensions and explore the techniques that can be applied to such measurements. This work has resulted in approximately a dozen publications and has been incorporated into research projects in Oxford, Glasgow and Buenos Aires.

At the Open University I also have interests in visual methods and public dissemination of science and was the academic consultant for ‘The Rules of the Game’, a 3 part BBC TV series presented by P Y Gerbeau that highlighted the economics of innovation, households and game theory.

Grants

I have been the principal applicant or co-applicant on grants from a number of funders including:

  • Arts and Humanities Research Council
  • European Science Foundation
  • ESRC
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • NHS Service Delivery Organisation
  • NSO (Netherlands)
  • OECD
  • National Audit Office
  • Royal Economics Society

Service has included:

  • ESRC Evaluation Committee Member
  • Office of National Statistics Technical Advisory Committee for Measures of Wellbeing
  • Advisor to Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
  • Research Commissioner, SDO - National Health Service
  • Steering Committee Member, Heads of Economics Departments (UK)
  • Fellow of the Human Capabilities and Development Association
  • Head of Department (3 years)
  • Genetics Health Economics Research Steering Group Member, Oxford University
  • External examinerships at Cambridge University, Leeds University, Henley Business School, King’s College London University and the Central European University

Editorial board memberships and guest editorships have included:

  • Theory and Decision, Journal of Economic Psychology; Journal of Socio-Economics; Journal of Applied Philosophy; Journal of Behavioural Decision-Making; Risk Decision and Policy; Social Science and Medicine; Social Indicators Research
Other affiliations
  • Research Associate, Health Economics Research Centre, Oxford University
  • Research Associate, CPNSS, London School of Economics
Visitorships
  • Harvard University (February 2008)
  • Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences, LSE
  • Institute of Economics and Statistics, Oxford University
Selected talks

New College, Oxford; Institute of Agricultural Economics, Oxford; Tinbergen Institute of Econometrics, Netherlands; Indian Statistical Institute, India; HCDA conference, UNESCO, Paris; Spoleto Science Conference, Italy; Centre of Philosophy of Natural Social Sciences, LSE; Economic Theory Workshops, University of Osnbruck, Germany; Social Choice Workshop, University of Caen, France; Poverty Measurement and Economics, University of Barcelona, Spain; Health Economic Theory Workshop, Denmark; Philosophy Department, Groningen University; Department of Economics, Galway University, Ireland.

Anand, P., Durand, M., Heckman J., (2011) The Measurement of progress –some achivements and challenges, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, 174, 851-5.

Anand P, Krishnakumar J and Tran NB 2011 Measuring Welfare: Latent variable Models for Happiness and Capabilities in the Presence of Unobservable Heterogeneity, Journal of Public Economics, 95 (3-4), 205-15.

Anand P 2011 New Directions in the Economics of Welfare: Special Issue celebrating Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s 75th Birthday, Journal of Public Economics, 95 (3-4), 191-2.

Anand, Paul and Lea, Stephen (2011). The psychology and behavioral economics of poverty. Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(2), pp. 284–293.

Anand, Paul and Gray, Alistair (2009). Obesity as market failure: could a ‘deliberative economy’ overcome the problems of paternalism? Kyklos, 62(2), pp. 182–190.

Anand, Paul; Hunter, Graham; Carter, Ian; Dowding, Keith; Guala, Francesco and van Hees, Martin (2009). The development of capability indicators. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 10(1), pp. 125–152.

Anand, P., Santos, C. and Smith, R. (2009) The Measurement of Capabilities, in Festschrift for Amartya Sen, (Basu and Kanbur eds), Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Anand, P., Pattanaik, P. and Puppe, P. (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Rational and Social Choice, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Anand, P. and Santos, C. (2007) Violence, Gender Inequalities and Life Satisfaction, Revue d’Economie Politiques, 117, 135-60.

Anand, P. and van Hees, M. (2006) Capabilities and Achievements: (with M v Hees), Journal of Socio-Economics, 35, 268-84 ISSN 1053-5357.

Anand, P. (2006) The Economics of Wellbeing: Introduction (with Andrew Clark), Journal of Socio-Economics, 35, 177-9 ISSN 1053-5357.

Anand, P. (2005) Capabilities and Health, Journal of Medical Ethics, 31, 299-303 ISSN 0306 6800 (1473-4257 online).

Anand, P., Hunter, G. and Smith, R., (2005) Capabilities and Wellbeing, Social Indicators Research, 74 (1), 9-55 ISSN 0303-8300.

Anand, P .and Dolan, P. (2005) Equity Capabilities and Health: Introduction, Social Science and Medicine, 60 (2), 219-222 ISSN 0277-9536.

Anand, P. (2005) QALYS and Capabilities, Health Economics, 14 (1283-86) available online from 8 June 2005 DOI: 10.1002/hec.1002.

Wailoo, A. and Anand, P. (2005) The Nature of Procedural Preferences for Health-Care Rationing Decisions, Social Science and Medicine, 60 (2), 223-236 ISSN 0277-9536.

Anand, P. (2003) 'The Integration of Claims to Health-Care: A Programming Approach', Journal of Health Economics, 22 (5), pp. 731-745.

van Hees, M. and Anand, P. (2003) 'New Choices: Genomics Freedom and Morality', Social Theory and Practice, 29, pp. 607-630.

Anand, P. (2002) 'Decision-Making when Science is Ambiguous', Science, 8th March.

Anand, P (2001) 'Procedural Fairness in Economic and Social Choice: Evidence from a Survey of Voters, Journal of Economic Psychology, 22, pp. 247–70.

Anand, P. (2000) 'Decisions vs. willingness to pay in social choice', Environmental Values, 9, pp. 419-30.

Anand, P. and Wailoo, A. (2000) 'Utilities vs. rights to publicly provided goods: arguments and evidence from health-care rationing', Economica, 67, pp. 543–577.

Anand, P. (1999) 'Written Evidence to the BSE Inquiry' chaired by Lord Justice Phillips.

Anand, P. (1999) 'QALYS and the integration of claims in health-care rationing', Health Care Analysis, 7, pp. 239-53.

Anand, P. (1998) 'Should we use simultaneous equations to model decision-making?' Annals of Operations Research, 80, pp. 253-62.

Anand, P. (1998) 'Blame, game theory and economic policy', Journal of Theoretical Politics, 10, pp. 111-23.

Anand, P. (1993) 'The philosophy of intransitive preference', The Economic Journal, 103, pp. 337-46.

Teaching interests

I am currently chair a level 3 course on micro-economics projects, contribute to the production of a level 2 course on economics and have contributed to a range of courses on the Environment and Psychology. Previously as Head of Department I worked with two other departments to introduce to the Open University, an undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE).

Externally funded projects

An evaluation of the impact of the work of The Froglife Trust on the lives of disadvantaged young people
RoleStart dateEnd dateFunding source
Co-investigator25 Jun 202131 Dec 2022Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

The environmental sector is one of the lowest funded sector in the country, accounting for just 2.6% of the income of the non-profit sector (Clifford et al., 2013). This sector needs to expand the funding base by providing social funders with evidence that this work has a substantial impact on people’s lives and related outcomes. Increasingly, nature conservation funders are seeking evidence that the work benefits both nature and people, particularly people experiencing trauma. Both Social prescribing and green prescribing are hugely increasing (Howarth et al., 2020; Loftus, McCauley & McCarron, 2017; Pilkington, Loef & Polley, 2017). However, the nature conservation sector is missing from this agenda as they are currently not able to provide evidence of their social impact. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the impact that The Froglife Trust has on disadvantaged young people. Participants will include young people aged 10-18 years, or 24 if they have a learning disability, who are considered vulnerable or disadvantaged in some capacity. Participants will be allocated to either the Intervention group or the control group, with the groups being balanced in terms of gender, age, geographical area, and type of disadvantage. The intervention group will participate in the Froglife Trust programme. The control group will not take part in the Froglife Trust programme for the duration of the study but will have access to it at the end of the study. Materials Participants in the intervention group will complete the following measures: • QoL / wellbeing measure? • The Froglife Trust questionnaire • The Froglife Trust quiz

Publications

Is well-becoming important for children and young people? Evidence from in-depth interviews with children and young people and their parents (2024)
Husbands, Samantha; Mitchell, Paul Mark; Kinghorn, Philip; Byford, Sarah; Bailey, Cara; Anand, Paul; Peters, Tim J; Floredin, Isabella and Coast, Joanna
Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation ((Early access))


Income and Health in Predicting Older Adults’ Social Capabilities in China: The Mediating Role of Social Engagement (2023)
Zhang, Yalu; Gao, Qin; Zhai, Fuhua and Anand, Paul
Social Indicators Research, 165 (pp. 163-180)


Community participation and multidimensional child growth: evidence from the Vietnam Young Lives study (2022-04)
Gonzalez Martinez, R.; Wells, J.; Anand, P.; Bergeron, G.; Pelto, G.; Dhansay, A. and Haisma, H.
Current Developments in Nutrition, 6, Article 6004005(4)


Decomposing Learning Inequalities in East Africa: How Much Does Sorting Matter? (2022-02)
Anand, Paul; Behrman, Jere R; Dang, Hai-Anh H and Jones, Sam
The World Bank Economic Review, 36(1) (pp. 219-243)


Work-Related and Personal Predictors of COVID-19 Transmission: Evidence from the UK and US (2022)
Anand, Paul; Allen, Heidi; Ferrer, Bob; Gold, Natalie; Gonzales Martinez, Rolando; Kontopantelis, Evangelos; Krause, Melanie and Vergunst, Francis
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 76 (pp. 152-157)


The Development and Validation of the ‘Good Life in the Community Scale’ (GLiCS): A Validation Study with Women Migrants Living in High Income Countries (2022)
Boor, C.; Christianen, P.; Anand, P. and White, R.
BMC Public Health ((In press))


The development and validation of the ‘Good Life in the Community Scale’ (GLiCS): a validation study with women migrants living in high income countries (2022)
Van der Boor, C. F.; Christiansen, P.; Anand, P. and White, R.
BMC Public Health, 22, Article 486(1)


Adolescent’s time use and skills development: Do cognitive and non-cognitive skills differ? (2022)
Hoorani, Bareerah Hafeez; Krishnakumar, Jaya and Anand, Paul
PLOS ONE, 17, Article e0271374(7)


Non-monetary poverty and deprivation: A capability approach (2021-02-01)
Anand, Paul; Jones, Sam; Donoghue, Matthew and Teitler, Julien
Journal of European Social Policy, 31(1) (pp. 78-91)


Wellbeing in Public Policy: Contributions Based on Sen’s Capability Approach (2021)
Anand, Paul
LSE Public Policy Review, 2, Article 2(2)


Stigma of persons with disabilities in South Africa: Uncovering pathways from discrimination to depression and low self-esteem (2020-11)
Trani, Jean-Francois; Moodley, Jacqueline; Anand, Paul; Graham, Lauren and Maw, May Thu Thu
Social Science & Medicine, 265, Article 113449 (pp. 1-12)


Can Women’s Self-help Groups Contribute to Sustainable Development? Evidence of Capability Changes from Northern India (2020)
Anand, Paul; Saxena, Swati; Gonzales Martinez, Rolando and Dang, Hai-Anh H.
Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(2) (pp. 137-160)


Disability and multidimensional quality of life: A capability approach to health status assessment (2020)
Anand, Paul; Roope, Laurence S. J.; Culyer, Anthony J. and Smith, Ron
Health Economics, 29(7) (pp. 748-765)


COVID-19 as a Capability Crisis: Using the Capability Framework to Understand Policy Challenges (2020)
Anand, Paul; Ferrer, Bob; Gao, Qin; Nogales, Ricardo and Unterhalter, Elaine
Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(3) (pp. 293-299)


Towards a Multi-Dimensional Index of Child Growth to Combat the Double Burden of Malnutrition (2019-12)
Haisma, Hinke; Pelto, Gretel; Venkatapuram, Sridhar; Yousefzadeh, Sepideh; Kramer, Lybrich and Anand, Paul
Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 75(2) (pp. 123-126)


Wealth and health in predicting elders’ social capabilities in China: mediating role of social network (2019-11-08)
Zhang, Yalu; Gao, Qin; Zhai, Fuhua and Anand, Paul
Innovation in Aging, 3(S1) (S369-S369)


How Economists Help Central Government Think: Survey Evidence from the UK Government Economic Service (2019)
Anand, Paul; Roope, Laurence and Ross, Andy
International Journal of Public Administration, 42(13) (pp. 1145-1157)


Varied patterns of catch-up in child growth: Evidence from Young Lives (2018-10-31)
Anand, Paul; Behrman, Jere R.; Dang, Hai-Anh H. and Jones, Sam
Social Science & Medicine, 214 (pp. 206-213)


Do Social Resources Matter? Social Capital, Personality Traits, and the Ability to Plan Ahead (2018-08)
Anand, Paul and Poggi, Ambra
Kyklos, 71(3) (pp. 343-373)


Depression and economic status: evidence for non-linear patterns in women from Mexico (2018)
Anand, Paul; Esposito, Lucio and Villaseñor, Adrián
Journal of Mental Health, 27(6) (pp. 529-551)


Wellbeing as a wicked problem: navigating the arguments for the role of government (2016-06)
Bache, Ian; Reardon, Louise and Anand, Paul
Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(3) (pp. 893-912)


The development and happiness of very young children (2016)
Anand, Paul and Roope, Laurence
Social Choice and Welfare, 47(4) (pp. 825-851)


Wellbeing over 50 (2015-12-01)
Anand, Paul; Gray, Alastair; Liberini, Federica; Roope, Laurence; Smith, Ron and Thomas, Ranjeeta
Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 6 (pp. 68-78)


Operationalising the capability approach for outcome measurement in mental health research (2013-12)
Simon, Judit; Anand, Paul; Gray, Alastair; Rugkåsa, Jorun; Yeeles, Ksenija and Burns, Tom
Social Science & Medicine, 98 (pp. 187-196)


Multidimensional welfare: do groups vary in their priorities and behaviours? (2013-09)
Bellani, Luna; Hunter, Graham and Anand, Paul
Fiscal Studies, 34(3) (pp. 333-354)


Moving beyond GDP (2013-09)
Anand, Paul; d'Ercole, Marco Mira and Low, Hamish
Fiscal Studies, 34(3) (pp. 285-288)


Housing and quality of life for migrant communities in western Europe: a capabilities approach (2013)
Coates, Dermot; Anand, Paul and Norris, Michelle
Journal on Migration and Human Security, 1(4) (pp. 163-209)


Autonomy and improved performance: lessons for an NHS policy reform (2012)
Anand, Paul; Exworthy, Mark; Frossini, Francesca and Jones, Lorelei
Public Money and Management, 32(3) (pp. 209-216)


Introduction: new directions in the economics of welfare: special issue celebrating nobel laureate Amartya Sen's 75th birthday (2011-04)
Anand, Paul
Journal of Public Economics, 95(3-4) (pp. 191-192)


Measuring welfare: latent variable models for happiness and capabilities in the presence of unobservable heterogeneity (2011-04)
Anand, Paul; Krishnakumar, Jaya and Tran, Ngoc Bich
Journal of Public Economics, 95(3-4) (pp. 205-215)


The psychology and behavioural economics of poverty (2011-03)
Anand, Paul and Lea, Stephen
Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(2) (pp. 284-293)


Obesity as market failure: could a ‘deliberative economy’ overcome the problems of paternalism? (2009-04)
Anand, Paul and Gray, Alistair
Kyklos, 62(2) (pp. 182-190)


Violent Crime, Gender Inequalities and Well-Being: Models based on a Survey of Individual Capabilities and Crime Rates for England and Wales (2007)
Anand, Paul and Santos, Cristina
Revue d'Economie Politique, 117(1) (pp. 877-902)


Symposium introduction: Life satisfaction and welfare economics (2006)
Anand, Paul and Clark, Andrew
Journal of Socio-Economics, 35(2) (pp. 177-179)


Capabilities and achievements: an empirical study (2006)
Anand, Paul and van Hees, Martin
Journal of Socio-Economics, 35(2) (pp. 268-284)


Capabilities and well-being: evidence based on the Sen–Nussbaum approach to welfare (2005-10)
Anand, Paul; Hunter, Graham and Smith, Ron
Social Indicators Research, 74(1) (pp. 9-55)


Capabilities and health (2005-05)
Anand, P.
Journal of Medical Ethics, 31(5) (pp. 299-303)


The Nature of procedural preferences for health care rationing decisions (2005-01)
Wailoo, Allan and Anand, Paul
Social Science & Medicine, 60(2) (pp. 223-236)


Equity Capabilities and Health: Introduction (2005-01)
Anand, P. and Dolan, P
Social Science & Medicine, 60(2) (pp. 219-222)


QALYs and Capabilities: a comment on Cookson (2005)
Anand, Paul
Health Economics, 14(12) (pp. 1283-1286)


Introduction (2005)
Anand, Paul
Social Indicators Research, 74(1) (pp. 1-8)


Does economic theory need more evidence?: a balancing of arguments (2003-12)
Anand, Paul
Journal of Economic Methodology, 10(4) (pp. 441-463)


New choices: genomics, freedom, and morality (2003-10)
van Hees, Martin and Anand, Paul
Social Theory and Practice, 29(4) (pp. 607-630)


The Integration of claims to health care: a programming approach (2003-09)
Anand, Paul
Journal of Health Economics, 22(5) (pp. 731-745)


Decision-Making When Science is Ambiguous (2002-03-08)
Anand, Paul
Science, 295(5561) (pp. 1839-1839)


What economists do - and how universities might help (2012-09-15)
Anand, Paul and Leape, Jonathan
In: Coyle, Diana ed. What's the Use of Economics? Teaching the Dismal Science after the Crisis
ISBN : 9781907994043 | Publisher : London Publishing Partnership | Published : London


Violent crime, gender inequalities and well-being: models based on capabilities and crime data for England and Wales (2009-07)
Anand, Paul and Santos, Cristina
In: Harris, Bernard; Gálvez, Lina and Machado, Helena eds. Gender and Well-Being in Europe: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (pp. 157-184)
ISBN : 9780754672647 | Publisher : Ashgate | Published : Farnham


The measurement of capabilities (2008)
Anand, Paul; Santos, Cristina and Smith, Ron
In: Basu, Kaushik and Kanbur, Ravi eds. Arguments for a Better World: Essays in Honor of Amartya Sen: Volume I: Ethics, Welfare, and Measurement (pp. 283-310)
ISBN : 978-0-19-923911-5 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford


Le Ambiguita dell mucca pazza (2003)
Anand, Paul
In: Donghi, Pino ed. Il governo della scienza (pp. 53-71)
ISBN : 9788842070474 | Publisher : Guis Latera and Figli | Published : Rome, Italy


Identifying Catch-Up Trajectories in Child Growth: New Methods with Evidence from Young Lives (2018-02-28)
Jones, Sam; Behrman, Jere; Dang, Hai anh and Anand, Paul
World Bank Group


Housing, Happiness and Capabilities: A Summary of the International Evidence and Models (2015-04)
Coates, Dermot; Anand, Paul and Norris, Michelle
Economics Department, The Open University


Capabilities and Marginalised Communities: The Case of the Indigenous Ethnic Minority Traveller Community and Housing in Ireland (2015-04)
Coates, Dermot; Anand, Paul and Norris, Michelle
Economics Department, The Open University


A Capabilities Approach to Housing and Quality of Life: The Evidence from Germany (2015)
Coates, Dermot; Anand, Paul and Norris, Michelle
Economics Department, The Open University


Wellbeing Over 50: A Capabilities Approach (2012-08)
Anand, Paul; Thomas, Ranjeeta and Gray, Alastair
Economics Department, The Open University


The economic psychology of poverty (2011-03)
Anand, Paul and Lea, Stephen
Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(2), p. 205


The Measurement of Progress - Some Achievements and Challenges (2011)
Anand, Paul; Martine, Durand and Heckman, James
The Open University, Milton Keynes.


The Measurement of Capabilities (2007-11)
Anand, Paul; Santos, Cristina and Smith, Ron
Economics Department, The Open University


Measurement of Human Capabilities (2007-01)
Anand, Paul; Hunter, Graham; Carter, Ian; Dowding, Keith; Guala, Francesco and Van Hees, Martin
Economics Department, The Open University


Violent Crime, Gender Inequalities and Well-Being: Models based on a Survey of Individual Capabilities and Crime Rates for England and Wales (2006-12)
Anand, Paul and Santos, Cristina
Economics Department, The Open University


Links between Governance, Incentives and Outcomes: a Review of the Literature (2005-03)
Davies, Celia; Anand, Paul; Artigas, Lidia; Holloway, Jacky; McConway, Kevin; Newman, Janet; Storey, John and Thompson, Grahame
National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D (NCCSDO), London, UK.


Capabilities and Wellbeing: Evidence Based on the Sen-Nussbaum Approach to Welfare (2004-01)
Anand, Paul; Hunter, Graham and Smith, Ron
Economics Department, The Open University


The Integration of Claims to Health-Care: a Programming Approach (2002-11)
Anand, Paul
Economics Department, The Open University


Social Choice, Health and Fairness (2002-09)
Anand, Paul
Economics Department, The Open University


Procedural Fairness in Economic and Social Choice: Evidence from a Survey of Voters (2000-12)
Anand, Paul
Economics Department, The Open University


Utilities vs. Rights to Publicly Provided Goods: Arguments and Evidence from Health-Care Rationing (2000-01)
Anand, Paul and Wailoo, Allan
Economics Department, The Open University