Showing papers by "Amartya Sen published in 1999"

Development as Freedom

Abstract: In Development as Freedom Amartya Sen quotes the eighteenth century poet William Cowper on freedom: Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves howe'er contented, never know. Sen explains how in a world of unprecedented increase in overall opulence, millions of people living in rich and poor countries are still unfree. Even if they are not technically slaves, they are denied elementary freedom and remain imprisoned in one way or another by economic poverty, social deprivation, political tyranny or cultural authoritarianism. The main purpose of development is to spread freedom and its 'thousand charms' to the unfree citizens. Freedom, Sen persuasively argues, is at once the ultimate goal of social and economic arrangements and the most efficient means of realizing general welfare. Social institutions like markets, political parties, legislatures, the judiciary, and the media contribute to development by enhancing individual freedom and are in turn sustained by social values. Values, institutions, development, and freedom are all closely interrelated, and Sen links them together in an elegant analytical framework. By asking "What is the relation between our collective economic wealth and our individual ability to live as we would like?" and by incorporating individual freedom as a social commitment into his analysis, Sen allows economics once again, as it did in the time of Adam Smith, to address the social basis of individual well-being and freedom.

On Ethics and Economics

Abstract: In this elegant critique, Amartya Sen argues that welfare economics can be enriched by paying more explicit attention fo ethics, and that modern ethical studies can also benefit from a closer contact with economics Predicitive and descriptive economics can be helped by making room for welfare-economic considerations in the explanation of behaviour In this context, he explores the rationality of behaviour and pays particular attention to social interdependence and internal tensions within consequential reasoning

Democracy as a Universal Value

Abstract: In the summer of 1997, I was asked by a leading Japanese newspaper what I thought was the most important thing that had happened in the twentieth century. I found this to be an unusually thought-provoking question, since so many things of gravity have happened over the last hundred years. The European empires, especially the British and French ones that had so dominated the nineteenth century, came to an end. We witnessed two world wars. We saw the rise and fall of fascism and Nazism. The century witnessed the rise of communism, and its fall (as in the former Soviet bloc) or radical transformation (as in China). We also saw a shift from the economic dominance of the West to a new economic balance much more dominated by Japan and East and Southeast Asia. Even though that region is going through some financial and economic problems right now, this is not going to nullify the shift in the balance of the world economy that has occurred over many decades (in the case of Japan, through nearly the entire century). The past hundred years are not lacking in important events.

Commodities and Capabilities

Abstract: Commodities and Capabilities presents a set of inter-related theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal well-being and advantage The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, ie what a person can do or can be, questioning in the process the more standard emphasis on opulence or on utility In fact, a person's motivation behind choice is treated here as a parametric variable which may or may not coincide with the pursuit of self-interest Given the large number of practical problems arising from the roles and limitations of different concepts of interest and the judgement of advantage and well-being, this scholarly investigation is both of theoretical interest and practical import

The Possibility of Social Choice

Abstract: The subject of social choice includes within its capacious frame various problems with the common feature of relating social judgments and group decisions to the views and interests of the individuals who make up the society or the group. Some challenges and foundational problems faced by social choice theory as a discipline are discussed. Social choice theory is a subject in which formal and mathematical techniques have been very extensively used. Voting-based procedures are entirely natural for some kinds of social choice problems, such as elections, referendums, or committee decisions. They are, however, altogether unsuitable for many other problems of social choice. Impossibility results in social choice theory - led by the pioneering work of Arrow (1951) - have often been interpreted as being thoroughly destructive of the possibility of reasoned and democratic social choice, including welfare economics. That view is argued against.

Handbook of Income Inequality Measurement

Abstract: Foreword A. Sen. Introduction: Thirty Years of Intensive Research on Income Inequality J. Silber. Acknowledgment. 1. The Rational Foundations of Income Inequality Measurement S.-C. Kolm. 2. Linking the Functional and Personal Distributions of Income C. Dagum. 3. Income Inequality Measurement: The Normative Approach C. Blackorby, et al. 4. Measuring Inequality: The Axiomatic Approach S.R. Chakravarty. 5. The Mathematical Foundations of Inequality Analysis M. Le Breton. 6. Stochastic Dominance and the Lorenz Curve P. Moyes. 7. The Measurement of Income Inequality: The Subjective Approach Y. Amiel. 8. Income Inequality Measurement: The Statistical Approach G.M. Giorgi. 9. Estimation of Inequality Indices F.A. Cowell. 10. Parametric Approximations of the Lorenz Curve H.K. Ryu, D.J. Slottje. 11. Tests of Significance for Lorenz Partial Orders J.A. Bishop, J.P. Formby. 12. How Do Income Sources Affect Income Inequality? R.I. Lerman. 13. Inequality Decomposition by Population Subgroups and the Analysis of Interdistributional Inequality J. Deutsch, J. Silber. 14. Equivalence Scales and Inequality F.A. Cowell, M. Mercader-Prats. 15. Multidimensioned Approaches to Welfare Analysis E. Maasoumi. 16. Redistributional Effect of Progressive Income Taxes P.J. Lambert. 17. Lifetime versus Annual Income Distribution J. Creedy. 18. Horizontal Inequity Measurement: A Basic Reassessment S.P. Jenkins, P.J. Lambert.19. The Measurement of Income Mobility: An Introduction to the Literature G.S. Fields, E.A. Ok. 20. Inequality, Welfare and Poverty: Three Interrelated Phenomena N. Kakwani. Epilogue: Reflections on Income Inequality Measurement A.B. Atkinson.

Health in development.

Abstract: I have been asked to speak on the subject of "health in development". I must take on the question -- the very difficult question -- as to how health relates to development.(a) At one level the question admits of a simple answer: surely the enhancement of the health of the people must be accepted more or less universally to be a major objective of the process of development. But this elementary recognition does not, on its own, take us very far. We have to ask many other questions as well. How important is health among the objectives of development? Is health best promoted through the general process of economic growth which involves a rising real national income per capita, or is the advancement of health as a goal to be separated out from the process of economic growth seen on its own? Do all good things go together in the process of development, or are there choices to be made on the priorities to be chosen? How does our concern for equity reflect itself in the field of health and health care? I shall have to go into these issues also. However, to motivate what is perhaps the most basic issue, let me begin with the report of a very old conversation between a husband and a wife on the subject of earning money. It is, of course, not unusual for couples to discuss the possibility of earning more money, but a conversation on this subject from around the eighth century BC is of some special interest. As reported in the Sanskrit text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Maitreyee and her husband Yajnavalkya are discussing this very subject. But they proceed rapidly to a bigger issue than the ways and means of becoming more wealthy: How far would wealth go to help them get what they want?(b) Maitreyee wonders whether it could be the case that if "the whole earth, full of wealth" were to belong just to her, she could achieve immortality through it. "No", responds Yajnavalkya, "like the life of rich people will be your life. But there is no hope of immortality by wealth". Maitreyee remarks, "What should I do with that by which I do not become immortal?". Maitreyee's rhetorical question has been cited again and again in Indian religious philosophy to illustrate both the nature of the human predicament and the limitations of the material world. I have too much scepticism of other worldly matters to be led there by Maitreyee's worldly frustration, but there is another aspect of this exchange that is of rather immediate interest to economics and to understanding the nature of development. This concerns the relation between incomes and achievements, between commodities and capabilities, between our economic wealth and our ability to live as we would like. While there is a connection between opulence, on the one hand, and our health, longevity and other achievements, on the other, the linkage may or may not be very strong and may well be extremely contingent on other circumstances. The issue is not the ability to live forever on which Maitreyee -- bless her soul -- happened to concentrate, but the capability to live really long (without being cut off in one's prime) and to have a good life while alive (rather than a life of misery and unfreedom) -- things that would be strongly valued and desired by nearly all of us. The gap between the two perspectives (that is, between an exclusive concentration on economic wealth, and a broader focus on the lives we can lead) is a major issue in the conceptualization of development. As Aristotle noted at the very beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics (resonating well with the conversation between Maitreyee and Yajnavalkya three thousand miles away): "Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else".(c) The usefulness of wealth lies in the things that it allows us to do -- the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve, including the freedom to live long and to live well. But this relation is neither exclusive (since there are significant other influences on our lives other than wealth) nor uniform (since the impact of wealth on our lives varies with other influences). …

Work and Rights

Abstract: Awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1998, Sen is a creative author who explores the boundaries between economics and philosophy. In 1975, he wrote a seminal study on employment for the ILO, entitled Employment, technology and development: A study prepared for the ILO within the framework of the World Employment Programme. This work served as the basis for his article “Employment, institutions and technology: Some policy issues”, which was published in the International Labour Review… [more]

On Ethics and Economics

Abstract: In this elegant critique, Amartya Sen argues that welfare economics can be enriched by paying more explicit attention fo ethics, and that modern ethical studies can also benefit from a closer contact with economics. Predicitive and descriptive economics can be helped by making room for welfare-economic considerations in the explanation of behaviour. In this context, he explores the rationality of behaviour and pays particular attention to social interdependence and internal tensions within consequential reasoning.

The Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze Omnibus: (Comprising) Poverty and Famines, Hunger and Public Action, India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity

Abstract: The Sen and Dreze omnibus comprises three outstanding works by two of the world's finest economists. The volume is a trilogy on the causes of hunger, the role public action can play in its alleviation and the Indian experience in this context. Together the three works provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of relevant developmental issues.

Beyond the crisis: development strategies in Asia

Abstract: I would first like to say how honored I feel to have the opportunity of giving this year’s Asia and Pacific Lecture. I also appreciate the fact that I am being hosted by two extremely distinguished intellectual institutions: the Japan Center for International Exchange and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. I also value the chance of speaking here today on a quintessentially “Asian” subject. I feel particularly privileged for two distinct reasons. There is, first, an entirely personal reason for my satisfaction. My sense of Asian identity is very strong. I was lucky to go to a school that was very keen on educating students about Asia. This was the progressive school, in Santiniketan, established by Rabindranath Tagore, the poet and visionary thinker. In addition to insisting on a good classical education, especially in Sanskrit, the school also offered remarkable opportunities for learning about the history and culture of Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, on the one hand, and about Arabic and Persian traditions, on the other. My childhood was spent partly in India (including what later became Bangladesh), but also in Mandalay in Burma, where my father taught for three years when I was a young boy. Much later, when I went to spend some months in Thailand, there was an immediate sense of being at home, instantly on arrival. There was also a sense of nearness that I experienced when later on I traveled in other regions of Asia, including Japan and China and elsewhere (such as the Philippines and Korea). This was not only because I was constantly reminded of what I had learned about these—and other—Asian countries in my childhood, but also because by the time I was a teenager my sense of Asian identity had taken deep roots. I am delighted to be in Singapore now, which I have only once visited earlier. It is wonderful for me to see the remarkable economic and cultural achievements of this great country. This country’s success in economic development as well as in building a vibrant and harmonious multicultural society has been exceptional. In classical Sanskrit, Singapore is “the city of lion”—the place of the king of the entire animal world. The achievements of Singapore "Beyond the Crisis: Development Strategies in Asia," Sustainable Development and Human Security: Second Intellectual Dialogue on Building Asia's Tomorrow; (ed. Pamela J. Noda), Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 1999, pp. 15-37.

India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity

Abstract: This book presents analysis of endemic deprivation in India and the role of public action in addressing the problem. The analysis is based on a broad view of economic development, focusing on human well-being and 'social opportunity' rather than the standard indicators of economic growth. India's success in reducing deprivation since Independence has been limited. Recent diagnoses of this failure of policy have concentrated on the counterproductive role of government regulation, and on the need for economic incentives to accelerate the economy. Professors Dreze and Sen argue that an assessment of India's failure to eliminate basic deprivations has to go beyond this limited focus, and to take note of the role played in that failure by inadequate public involvement in the provision of basic education, health care, social security, and related fields. Even the fostering of fast and participatory economic growth requires some basic social change, which is not addressed by liberalization and economic incentives. The authors also discuss the historical antecedents of these political and social neglects, including the distortion of policy priorities arising from inequalities of political power. Following on from this, the book considers the scope for public action to address these earlier biases and achieve a transformation of policy priorities. ` ... a fine account of India's achievements and failures ... written throughout in a fine style ... it will be a starting-point of subsequent discussions on social life in India.' Partha Dasgupta, Times Higher Education Supplement

La possibilité du choix social [Conférence Nobel]

Abstract: Sen Amartya. La possibilite du choix social [Conference Nobel]. In: Revue de l'OFCE, n°70, 1999. pp. 7-61.

La libertad individual como compromiso social

Abstract: 1.- La libertad individual como compromiso social 2.- Compromiso social y participacion: exigencias de equidad y equilibrio presupuestario

The Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze Omnibus: (comprising) Poverty and Famines; Hunger and Public Action; and India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity

Abstract: The Sen and Dreze omnibus comprises three outstanding works by two of the world's finest economists The volume is a trilogy on the causes of hunger, the role public action can play in its alleviation and the Indian experience in this context Together the three works provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of relevant developmental issues

La possibilité du choix social

Abstract: On a dit qu’un « chameau » etait « un cheval concu par un comite ». Cela pourrait ressembler a une image pertinente des enormes faiblesses des decisions prises par des comites, mais cette accusation est en fait beaucoup trop faible. Il se peut qu’un chameau n’ait pas la vitesse d’un cheval, mais c’est un animal harmonieux et tres utile, bien concu pour parcourir de longues distances sans eau ni nourriture. Un comite qui, en dessinant un cheval, essaierait de tenir compte de tous les souhaits de ses differents membres finirait aisement par concevoir quelque chose de beaucoup moins convenable : peut-etre un centaure de la mythologie grecque, moitie cheval et moitie autre chose — une creation ingenieuse alliant la brutalite a la confusion.

Critical reflection: health in development

Abstract: I have been asked to speak on the subject of ``health in development''. I must take on the question Ð the very difficult question Ð as to how health relates to development. At one level the question admits of a simple answer: surely the enhancement of the health of the people must be accepted more or less universally to be a major objective of the process of development. But this elementary recognition does not, on its own, take us very far. We have to ask many other questions as well. How important is health among the objectives of development? Is health best promoted through the general process of economic growth which involves a rising real national income per capita, or is the advancement of health as a goal to be separated out from the process of economic growth seen on its own? Do all good things go together in the process of development, or are there choices to be made on the priorities to be chosen? How does our concern for equity reflect itself in the field of health and health care? I shall have to go into these issues also. However, to motivate what is perhaps the most basic issue, let me begin with the report of a very old conversation between a husband and a wife on the subject of earning money. It is, of course, not unusual for couples to discuss the possibility of earning more money, but a conversation on this subject from around the eighth century BC is of some special interest. As reported in the Sanskrit text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Maitreyee and her husband Yajnavalkya are discussing this very subject. But they proceed rapidly to a bigger issue than the ways and means of becoming more wealthy: How far would wealth go to help them get what they want? b Maitreyee wonders whether it could be the case that if ``the whole earth, full of wealth'' were to belong just to her, she could achieve immortality through it. ``No'', responds Yajnavalkya, ``like the life of rich people will be your life. But there is no hope of immortality by wealth''. Maitreyee remarks, ``What should I do with that by which I do not become immortal?''. Maitreyee's rhetorical question has been cited again and again in Indian religious philosophy to illustrate both the nature of the human predicament and the limitations of the material world. I have too much scepticism of other worldly matters to be led there by Maitreyee's worldly frustration, but there is another aspect of this exchange that is of rather immediate interest to economics and to understanding the nature of development. This concerns the relation between incomes and achievements, between commodities and capabilities, between our economic wealth and our ability to live as we would like. While there is a connection between opulence, on the one hand, and our health, longevity and other achievements, on the other, the linkage may or may not be very strong and may well be extremely contingent on other circumstances. The issue is not the ability to live forever on which Maitreyee Ð bless her soul Ð happened to concentrate, but the capability to live really long (without being cut off in one's prime) and to have a good life while alive (rather than a life of misery and unfreedom) Ð things that would be strongly valued and desired by nearly all of us. The gap between the two perspectives (that is, between an exclusive concentration on economic wealth, and a broader focus on the lives we can lead) is a major issue in the conceptualization of development. As Aristotle noted at the very beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics (resonating well with the conversation between Maitreyee and Yajnavalkya three thousand miles away): ``Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else''. The usefulness of wealth lies in the things that it allows us to do Ð the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve, including the freedom to live long and to live well. But this relation is neither exclusive (since there are significant other influences on our lives other than wealth) nor uniform (since the impact of wealth on our lives varies with other influences). It is as important to recognize the crucial role of wealth on living conditions and the quality of life, as it is to understand the qualified and contingent nature of this relationship. An adequate conception of development must go much beyond the accumulation of wealth and the growth of gross national product and other income-related variables. Without ignoring the importance of economic growth, we have to look well beyond it. The ends and means of development require examination and scrutiny for a fuller understanding of the development process; it is simply not adequate to take as V Keynote address to the Fifty-second World Health Assembly, Geneva, 18 May 1999. 1 Master of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TQ, England. a In answering this Ð and related Ð questions, I draw on my forthcoming book, Development as freedom, to be published by Alfred Knopf, New York, in September 1999. The present keynote address also has considerable affinity with the keynote address ``Economic progress and health'' that I delivered to the Ninth Annual Public Health Forum at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, on 22 April 1999. b Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, II, iv, 2±3.