Ideas in Development

Amartya Sen is an economist, philosopher, and activist. Unlike most economics professors, Amartya Sen will forever be known as an economist who redefined limits of debate and scholarly work in the field of economics. One part philosopher and another part economist, Sen's background includes research and writings on Abstract Choice Theory, welfare, poverty, development, human rights, famine, and women's rights, studying the social, ethical, political and economic issues brought to bare by each.

Let's start with his work on poverty and famine.

Throughout his career, Sen has been inspired and driven to answer the question: how can such extreme malnutrition, hunger and starvation exist in a global society so rich in wealth, resources and food? Through extensive research and published works on famine over the last century, Sen brought to light the notion that famines are the result of "distributional failures resulting from faulty economic political institutions" rather than insufficient food production and resources. ¹ This ideological shift in how we conceive of famine is critical because it refutes the oft-used argument that poverty and starvation are self-inflicted evils. Rather, Sen asserted that famine is a social disease plaguing corrupt and faulty economies and societies.² His research also concluded that independent media and a democratic form of government are critical in preventing the occurrence and prolongation of famine; that a free society is crucial to food availability.³ “The reach and effectiveness of open dialogue are often underestimated in assessing social and political problems.”⁴

Sen was also interested in the issue of women and economic development, how women were superseded by men in the development equation. In an article titled "More Than 100 Million Women are Missing,”⁵ Sen theorized and in fact calculated that approximately 100 million women have been 'lost' as a result of biased development practices.

Later on in his career Sen would apply his research and findings regarding the effects of institutions on famine to the issue of poverty, calling into question the conventional indicators used to measure poverty and economic development needs worldwide. He worked for many years as a consultant to the UN, and played a large role in crafting the UN’s Human Development Report,⁶ an index that was unique mainly for its consideration of more factors than a simple ‘cost of living’ analysis for deriving specific economic needs. His belief, furthermore, that we should be measuring, ideally, not just well-being but the freedom to pursue well-being, is a direct link to the concept of capabilities and entitlements, a concept Sen would go on to develop.

Also, fascinating is his work on capabilities and entitlements.

Sen embraced the theory of 'basic needs perspective' pioneered by Paul Streeten,⁷ and in his own theoretical work took this concept one step further. He agreed with Streeten that there are a set of 'basic needs' (entitlements), for which the government is responsible, needs that must be met before it considers putting resources toward other non-essential expenditures (extraneous desires of mostly middle and upper class citizens). Taking this a step further, Sen argued that the success or failure of a society to meet these needs should be measured through the capabilities possessed by its citizens; in other words, the success of a society to provide for its citizens should be determined by what people <em>can do</em>, what opportunities are available to the individual to meet their own needs (a much more pro-active and results-oriented way of looking at basic human needs).⁸ In the example of education, says Sen, "It is not only the case that, say, better basic education and health care improve the quality of life directly; they also increase a person's ability to earn income and be free of income-poverty as well”⁹ (italics added).

Indeed, whether a person is well-nourished and healthy depends on his or her capabilities as opposed to their achieved functioning. This raises the issue of freedom to achieve and is why Sen equates development with freedom. By this, he means a number of things:

• Development is enhanced by democracy and the protection of human rights;
• Such rights, especially freedom of the press, speech, assembly, and so forth increase the likelihood of honest, clean, good government;
• The goal of development is freedom; and
• Freedom implies not just the right to do something but the capabilities to make it happen.

Although focused on developing countries, his major statement on the field, Development As Freedom, is a "must-read" for domestic economic development practitioners.

The impact of Amartya Sen's work is evident in not only the theoretical and ideological advancements that his work has facilitated, but the impact that his ideas and theories had on public policy as well as economic development practices in non-profit and development sectors. In short, Sen's ideas went beyond the realm of ideology to affect real and tangible social change.

The relevance of Sen's work is evident today in development work here in the United States. First, his ideas refocused the work on “development as if people mattered.” His social indicators research analysis has helped to inspire various modes of research, including CFED's Development Report Card for the States. Finally. Sen's books, such as Inequality Reexamined, astutely sift through the nuances of the phrase, “all people are created equal” in a manner that directly addresses contemporary debates between libertarianism, moderate conservatism, liberalism, Marxism, and feminism. He is truly a master of the philosophic craft and an economist as well.

Amartya Sen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Economics in 1998 for his work, including “ several key contributions to the research on fundamental problems in welfare economics ranging from axiomatic theory of social choice to definitions of welfare and poverty indexes, to empirical studies of famine.” ¹⁰