Showing papers by "Amartya Sen published in 1997"

Maximization and the act of choice

Abstract: The act of choosing can have particular relevance in maximizing behavior for at least two distinct reasons: (1) process significance (preferences may be sensitive to the choice process, including the identity of the chooser), and (2) decisional inescapability (choices may have to be made whether or not the judgemental process has been completed). The general approach of maximizing behavior can-appropriately formulated-accommodate both concerns, but the regularities of choice behavior assumed in standard models of rational choice will need significant modification. These differences have considerable relevance in studies of economic, social, and political behavior.

Inequality, Unemployment and Contemporary Europe.

Abstract: Inequality of incomes can differ substantially from inequality in other 'spaces' such as well-being, freedom, health, longevity, and quality of life. Given the massive sclae of unemployment in contemporary European economies, concentrating only on income inequality can be particularly deceptive for studying economic inequality, since unemployment causes deprivation in many other ways as well. This paper examines the different ways in which unemployment creates deprivation (other than through low income), and what implications these issues have on the relative merits of American and European attitudes respectively to individual responsibility and social commitment.

From Income Inequality to Economic Inequality

Abstract: I begin by recounting a true story—a rather trivial and innocuous story, as it happens, but one with something of a lesson. Some years ago, when I went to give a lecture at another campus, I chose “Economic Inequality” as the title of my talk. On arrival, I found the campus covered with posters announcing that I 261was speaking on “Income Inequality.” When I grumbled about it slightly, I encountered gentle, but genuine, amazement that I wanted to fuss about such “an insignificant difference.” Indeed, the identification of economic inequality with income inequality is fairly standard, and the two are often seen as effectively synonymous in the economic literature. If you tell someone that you are working on economic inequality, it is quite commonly assumed that you are studying income distribution.

Human rights and Asian values

Abstract: The thesis that Asian values are less supportive of freedom and more concerned with order than discipline than are Western values and that the claims of human rights in the areas of political and civil liberties are therefore less relevant in Asia than West.

Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives

Abstract: India is a country of great diversity. The commonly used indicators of `quality of life' (such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy) vary tremendously between the different states, rivalling international contrasts between very low performing countries and very high achieving ones. This volume of essays reflects an attempt to draw lessons from the disparate experiences within India, rather than from contrasts with the experiences of other countries. It supplements Dreze and Sen's India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, which studies what we can learn from international comparisons of policies, actions, and achievements. The essays challenge exclusively economic judgements of the development process. The first task is to identify the ends of economic and social development in order to have a basis in which to found the means and strategies. The second task is to understand a wider range of means than those related simply to the use or non-use of markets.The first two overview essays study the issues at the national level, focusing on policy debates and district-by-district demographic indicators, respectively. They are followed by detailed case studies of three very different states: Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and West Bengal.

Economics, Business Principles and Moral Sentiments

Abstract: A6stract: This essay discusses the place of business principles and of moral sentiments in economic success, and examines the role of culF tures in influencing norms of business behavior. Two presumptions held in standard economic analysis are disputed: the rudimentary nature of business pnnciples (essentially restncted, directly or indirectlyl to profit maximization), and the allegedly narrow reach of moral sentiments (often treated to be irrelevant to business and economics). In contrast, the author argues for the need to recognize the complex strucF ture of business pnnciples and the extensive reach of moral sentiments by using theoretical considerations, a thorough analysis of Adam Smith's work, and a careful interpretation of lapanls remarkable economic success. Referring to the economic corruption in Italy and the grabbing culture" in Russia, he further shows how deeply the presence or absence of particular features of business ethics can influence the operation of the economy, and even the nature of the society and its politics. Being an Indian himself, he warns against grand generalizations like the superionty of "Asian values" over traditional Westem morals. To conclude, it is diversiover space, over time, and between groups -that makes the study of business principles and moral sentiments a rich source of understanding and explanation.

Population policy: Authoritarianism versus cooperation

Abstract: The people whose interests are most adversely affected by frequent bearing and rearing of children are young women. Social changes that expand the decisional power of young women (such as expansion of female literacy, or enhancement of female employment opportunity) can, thus, be major forces in the direction of reducing fertility rates. This “cooperative” route seems to act more securely – and often much faster – than the use of “coercion” in reducing family size and birth rates. This essay examines the comparative evidence from India and China on this subject as well as the interregional contrasts within India. JEL classification: J11, J13, O15

Development and Thinking at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract: There has been a shift, in recent years, in the understanding of the process of development. It is not a switch (as often portrayed) from a state-dependent view of development to a market-reliant view. Rather, it involves rejecting a "blood, sweat and tears" view of development in favour of celebrating people's agency and cooperation and the expansion of human freedom and capabilities. The market as an institution fits into this bigger picture. So do human rights and democratic values, especially as the vehicle of political incentives (complementing economic incentives). It involves, ultimately, a fuller view of human beings. Contents: 1) Experiences and Lessons; 2) Blood, Sweat and Tears? 3) Hard Build-up and the Role of Accumulation; 4) Hard Business and the Fear of ?Bleeding Hearts?; 5) Hard States and the Denial of Political Rights; 6) Capability Expansion: Human Capital and More; 7) Weights, Values and Public Participation.

Development Thinking at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract: There has been a shift, in recent years, in the understanding of the process of development. It is not a switch (as often portrayed) from a state-dependent view of development to a market-reliant view. Rather, it involves rejecting a "blood, sweat and tears" view of development in favour of celebrating people's agency and cooperation and the expansion of human freedom and capabilities. The market as an institution fits into this bigger picture. So do human rights and democratic values, especially as the vehicle of political incentives (complementing economic incentives). It involves, ultimately, a fuller view of human beings. Contents: 1) Experiences and Lessons; 2) Blood, Sweat and Tears? 3) Hard Build-up and the Role of Accumulation; 4) Hard Business and the Fear of ?Bleeding Hearts?; 5) Hard States and the Denial of Political Rights; 6) Capability Expansion: Human Capital and More; 7) Weights, Values and Public Participation.

Selected letters of Rabindranath Tagore

Abstract: This selection of about 350 letters spanning Tagore's entire life show his interests and ideas as far as possible, and will be a valuable source of information for the understanding of Tagore's personality

Individual Preference as the Basis of Social Choice

Abstract: Social choice theory is an analytical discipline which makes extensive use of axiomatic methods. Many of its strengths and weaknesses relate precisely to this analytical character, including the strength arising from its interpretational versatility and the weakness of a tendency towards formal neglect of substantive issues. The subject of this essay is this mixed pattern of virtues and vices.

Tagore and His India

Abstract: Rabindranath Tagore, who died in 1941 at the age of eighty, is a towering figure in the millennium-old literature of Bengal. Anyone who becomes familiar with this large and flourishing tradition will be impressed by the power of Tagore's presence in Bangladesh and in India. His poetry as well as his novels, short stories, and essays are very widely read, and the songs he composed reverberate around the eastern part of India and throughout Bangladesh.

Hunger in the Contemporary World

Abstract: Economic analysis of hunger calls for an informationally broad approach that takes adequate account of the distinct interdependences involved. This paper examines the interdependences between (1) income and food consumption, (2) operations of different economic sectors, (3) production and trade in different countries, (4) macroeconomic stability and food security, (5) intrafamily distributional rules and the sharing of food and health care, (6) women's power and fertility behaviour, (7) military expenditure and economic deprivation, (8) early undernourishment and its consequences on health and skills, (9) political incentives and the direction of government policy, and (10) public activism and social commitment. The implications of these interconnections are briefly discussed.

Whats the Point of a Development Strategy

Abstract: Standard indicators of economic success leave out many aspects of development that are crucial to the well-being and freedom of citizens. We have to examine critically the ends as well as the means involved in development strategies. The impact of public education, health care, social security, etc. have to be seen both in terms of their direct effects on human capabilities and their indirect consequences on people's lives through raising productivity and earning powers, and through helping to reduce the burden, especially on young women, of high fertility. The two aspects have to be considered together.

Quality of life and economic evaluation.

Abstract: The author examines "the place and role of quality of life in economic evaluation and welfare economics. That exercise certainly involves norms and judgments but it is also influenced by our reading of factual possibilities and it influences in its turn the nature of prescriptive possibilities we explore and the descriptive statements we choose to make. In this sense the topic is not confined to welfare economics and involves other branches of economics as well." This essay consists of two lectures the second of which examines how longevity life expectancy and gender- and race-determined mortality differences can contribute to our understanding of quality of life. (EXCERPT)

What’s the Point of a Development Strategy?

Abstract: Standard indicators of economic success leave out many aspects of development that are crucial to the well-being and freedom of citizens. We have to examine critically the ends as well as the means involved in development strategies. The impact of public education, health care, social security, etc. have to be seen both in terms of their direct effects on human capabilities and their indirect consequences on people's lives through raising productivity and earning powers, and through helping to reduce the burden, especially on young women, of high fertility. The two aspects have to be considered together.

Development and Thinking at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract: There has been a shift, in recent years, in the understanding of the process of development. It is not a switch (as often portrayed) from a state-dependent view of development to a market-reliant view. Rather, it involves rejecting a "blood, sweat and tears" view of development in favour of celebrating people's agency and cooperation and the expansion of human freedom and capabilities. The market as an institution fits into this bigger picture. So do human rights and democratic values, especially as the vehicle of political incentives (complementing economic incentives). It involves, ultimately, a fuller view of human beings.Contents: 1) Experiences and Lessons; 2) Blood, Sweat and Tears? 3) Hard Build-up and the Role of Accumulation; 4) Hard Business and the Fear of ?Bleeding Hearts?; 5) Hard States and the Denial of Political Rights; 6) Capability Expansion: Human Capital and More; 7) Weights, Values and Public Participation.

Hunger in the contemporary world

Abstract: Economic analysis of hunger calls for an informationally broad approach that takes adequate account of the distinct interdependences involved. This paper examines the interdependences between (1) income and food consumption, (2) operations of different economic sectors, (3) production and trade in different countries, (4) macroeconomic stability and food security, (5) intrafamily distributional rules and the sharing of food and health care, (6) women's power and fertility behaviour, (7) military expenditure and economic deprivation, (8) early undernourishment and its consequences on health and skills, (9) political incentives and the direction of government policy, and (10) public activism and social commitment. The implications of these interconnections are briefly discussed.