This is a Ph.D. thesis, the main objective of which was to identify the poor and their socio-economic profile and to measure the impact of public programmes in Sri Lanka on the poor in the 1970-84 period. The most significant feature of the Sri Lankan situation, which also has implications for the development of structural adjustment policies, is the continued improvement in certain capabilities of the poor, despite their declining real income. This is most marked in the education and, to a lesser extent, in the health sectors, where services are free. Nutrition levels reflect changes in real income more closely, after non-indexed food stamps replaced the ration. Where access to services is determined by ability to pay, as in housing, water and sanitation programmes, capabilities are closely determined by entitlements. Where there are poorly developed facilities such as on estates, the discrepancy between entitlements and capabilities are wide.