Amartya Sen

Bio: Amartya Sen is an academic researcher from Harvard University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poverty & Human rights. The author has an hindex of 149, co-authored 689 publications receiving 141907 citations. Previous affiliations of Amartya Sen include Trinity College, Dublin & University of Chicago.

Generalized Chaplygin gas and cosmic microwave background radiation constraints

Abstract: We study the dependence of the location of the cosmic microwave background radiation peaks on the parameters of the generalized Chaplygin gas model, whose equation of state is given by $p=\ensuremath{-}A/{\ensuremath{\rho}}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}},$ where A is a positive constant and $0l\ensuremath{\alpha}l~1.$ We find, in particular, that observational data arising from Archeops, BOOMERANG, supernova and high-redshift observations allow constraining significantly the parameter space of the model. Our analysis indicates that the emerging model is clearly distinguishable from the $\ensuremath{\alpha}=1$ Chaplygin case and the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model.

The Discipline of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Abstract: Cost‐benefit analysis is a general discipline, based on the use of some foundational principles, which are not altogether controversial, but have nevertheless considered plausibility. Divisiveness increases as various additional requirements are imposed. There is a trade‐off here between easier usability (through locked‐up formulae) and more general acceptability (through allowing parametric variations). The paper examines and scrutinizes the merits and demerits of these additional requirements. The particular variant of cost‐benefit approach that is most commonly used now is, in fact, extraordinarily limited, because of its insistence on doing the valuation entirely through an analogy with the market mechanism. This admits only a narrow class of values, and demands that individuals be unconcerned about many substantial variations, ignored in the procedure of market valuation. The use, instead, of a general social choice approach can allow greater freedom of valuation and can also accommodate mor...

Social security in developing countries

Abstract: Preface List of contributors PART I: General Issues: Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen: Public action for Social Security: Foundations and strategy Robin Burgess & Nicholas Stern: Social Security in developing countries: What, why, who and how? A. B. Atkinson & John Hills: Social Security in developed countries: Are there lessons for developing countries? Jean-Philippe Platteau: Traditional systems of Social Security and hunger insurance: Past achievements and modern challenges Bina Agarwal: Social Security and the family: Coping with seasonality and calamity in rural India PART II: Case Studies: Ehtisham Ahmad & Athar Hussain: Social Security in China: A historical perspective S. R. Osmani: Social Security in South Asia Carmelo Mesa-Lago: Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: A comparative assessment Joachim von Braun: Social Security in sub-Saharan Africa: Reflections on policy challenges Richard Morgan: Social Security in the SADCC States of Southern Africa: Social welfare programmes and the reduction of household vulnerability

On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning. These two views have given rise to different research foci and a body of knowledge that is in some areas divergent and in others complementary. New methodological developments concerning multilevel modeling and construct comparisons are also allowing researchers to formulate new questions for the field. This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.

Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices

Abstract: A doubling in global food demand projected for the next 50 years poses huge challenges for the sustainability both of food production and of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide to society. Agriculturalists are the principal managers of global useable lands and will shape, perhaps irreversibly, the surface of the Earth in the coming decades. New incentives and policies for ensuring the sustainability of agriculture and ecosystem services will be crucial if we are to meet the demands of improving yields without compromising environmental integrity or public health.

Dynamics of dark energy

Abstract: We review in detail a number of approaches that have been adopted to try and explain the remarkable observation of our accelerating universe. In particular we discuss the arguments for and recent progress made towards understanding the nature of dark energy. We review the observational evidence for the current accelerated expansion of the universe and present a number of dark energy models in addition to the conventional cosmological constant, paying particular attention to scalar field models such as quintessence, K-essence, tachyon, phantom and dilatonic models. The importance of cosmological scaling solutions is emphasized when studying the dynamical system of scalar fields including coupled dark energy. We study the evolution of cosmological perturbations allowing us to confront them with the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure and demonstrate how it is possible in principle to reconstruct the equation of state of dark energy by also using Supernovae Ia observational data. We also discuss in detail the nature of tracking solutions in cosmology, particle physics and braneworld models of dark energy, the nature of possible future singularities, the effect of higher order curvature terms to avoid a Big Rip singularity, and approaches to modifying gravity which leads to a late-time accelerated expansion without recourse to a new form of dark energy.