Amartya Sen
Topic: Human Development: Concept, Approaches and Measurement · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Human Development"
Meaning
Amartya Sen is an Indian economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998. He argued that increasing people's freedom, or reducing their unfreedom, is the main goal of development. He also argued that it is the most effective way to achieve development. He is linked with the capability approach, which says that building people's abilities in health, education and access to resources is the key to human development. He was a close friend of Mahbub ul Haq and worked with him on the early Human Development Reports of the UNDP.
Example
In his 1999 book Development as Freedom, Sen argued that famines do not happen in working democracies with a free press. Elected governments that face open criticism have to act before food shortages turn into mass starvation.
Don't confuse with
- Mahbub ul Haq: Haq created the Human Development Index in 1990. Sen did not create the HDI. He worked with Haq on the early reports.