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The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen

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  • Renee Prendergast

Abstract

Following a brief review of the conception of freedom as employed in economic discourse, this paper focuses on the evolution of the concept of freedom in the work of Amartya Sen. It traces the development of Sen's thought from the capability analysis of the late 1970s to his more recent separation of freedom into its opportunity and process aspects. While broadly appreciative of Sen's development of the concept of positive freedom, the paper identifies some difficulties arising from his definition of capability as a set of options as well as from his separation of the opportunity and process aspects of freedom. Aspects of the relationship between Sen's conception of freedom and that of Marx are discussed briefly in the context of Sen's recent discussion of the market as a source of freedom. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.

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  • Renee Prendergast, 2005. "The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(6), pages 1145-1170, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:29:y:2005:i:6:p:1145-1170
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bei081
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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin Leportier, 2024. "Altruism and the Simple Argument for Markets," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-04571499, HAL.
    2. Hatice Karaçay Çakmak, 2010. "Can the Capability Approach be Evaluated within the Frame of Mainstream Economics? A Methodological Analysis," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 57(1), pages 85-99, March.
    3. Heinicke, Philipp, 2010. "The evolution of the capability approach or Sen's quest for an informational base," Wittener Diskussionspapiere zu alten und neuen Fragen der Wirtschaftswissenschaft 6/2010, Witten/Herdecke University, Faculty of Management and Economics.

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