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The Economic Contributions of Amartya Sen

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  • Steven Pressman
  • Gale Summerfield

Abstract

This paper examines the major economic contributions of Amartya Sen. Sen's contributions fall into three main areas: a philosophical critique of traditional economic assumptions, an attempt to build a more realistic economic science based on the notion of entitlements and human capabilities, and a long series of practical contributions to welfare economics that follow from the capabilities approach - how to measure poverty and inequality better, how to understand famine and hunger, the importance of gender in economic development, and the differences between economic development and economic growth. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of the significance of Sen's work.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Pressman & Gale Summerfield, 2000. "The Economic Contributions of Amartya Sen," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 89-113.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:12:y:2000:i:1:p:89-113
    DOI: 10.1080/095382500106830
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sen, Amartya, 1981. "Public Action and the Quality of Life in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 43(4), pages 287-319, November.
    2. Sen, Amartya, 1970. "Interpersonal Aggregation and Partial Comparability," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(3), pages 393-409, May.
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    8. Sen, Amartya K, 1972. "Control Areas and Accounting Prices: An Approach to Economic Evaluation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(325), pages 486-501, Supplemen.
    9. Sen, Amartya, 1985. "Social Choice and Justice: A Review Article," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 1764-1776, December.
    10. Sen, Amartya K, 1972. "Interpersonal Comparison and Partial Comparability: A Correction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 40(5), pages 959-959, September.
    11. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    12. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "Social Choice Theory: A Re-examination," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(1), pages 53-89, January.
    13. Sen, Amartya K, 1979. "Personal Utilities and Public Judgements: Or What's Wrong with Welfare Economics?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 89(355), pages 537-558, September.
    14. Sen, A., 1991. "What Did You Learn In The World Today?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1536, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
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    22. Sen, Amartya K, 1978. "On the Labour Theory of Value: Some Methodological Issues," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(2), pages 175-190, June.
    23. Klamer, Arjo, 1989. "A Conversation with Amartya Sen," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 135-150, Winter.
    24. Sen, Amartya, 1994. "The Formulation of Rational Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 385-390, May.
    25. Amartya Sen, 1999. "The Possibility of Social Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 349-378, June.
    26. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    27. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "On Weights and Measures: Informational Constraints in Social Welfare Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(7), pages 1539-1572, October.
    28. Sen, Amartya, 1979. "The Welfare Basis of Real Income Comparisons: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 1-45, March.
    29. Amartya Sen, 1995. "How to Judge Voting Schemes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 91-98, Winter.
    30. Sen, Amartya, 1993. "Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(01), pages 45-54, January.
    31. Sen, Amartya, 1988. "Property and Hunger," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 57-68, April.
    32. Sen, Amartya Kumar, 1971. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal: Reply," Scholarly Articles 3612780, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    33. Vivian Walsh, 2000. "Smith After Sen," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 5-25.
    34. Sen, Amartya, 1992. "Life and death in China: A reply," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 20(9), pages 1305-1312, September.
    35. K. N. Raj & A. K. Sen, 1962. "Alternative Patterns Of Growth: A Reply," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 200-204.
    36. Amartya Sen, 1981. "Ingredients of Famine Analysis: Availability and Entitlements," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(3), pages 433-464.
    37. Sen, Amartya, 1990. "Entitlements and the Chinese famine," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 261-263, June.
    38. Sen, Amartya, 1986. "The causes of famine : A reply," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 125-132, May.
    39. Dasgupta, Partha & Sen, Amartya & Starrett, David, 1973. "Notes on the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 180-187, April.
    40. Sen, Amartya, 1998. "Human development and financial conservatism," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 733-742, April.
    41. Sen, Amartya Kumar, 1970. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal," Scholarly Articles 3612779, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    42. Sen, Amartya K, 1980. "Description as Choice," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 353-369, November.
    43. Sen, Amartya, 1970. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 152-157, Jan.-Feb..
    44. Amartya Sen, 1995. "Environmental Evaluation And Social Choice: Contingent Valuation And The Market Analogy," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 23-37, March.
    45. Sen, Amartya, 1971. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal: Reply," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 1406-1407, Nov.-Dec..
    46. Sen, Amartya, 1983. "Development: Which Way Now?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 93(372), pages 742-762, December.
    47. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    48. K. N. Raj & A. K. Sen, 1961. "Alternative Patterns Of Growth Under Conditions Of Stagnant Export Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 43-52.
    49. Sen, Amartya, 1993. "Internal Consistency of Choice," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 495-521, May.
    50. W. Gaertner & P. K. Pattanaik, 2021. "Amartya Sen," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles (ed.), Conversations on Social Choice and Welfare Theory - Vol. 1, pages 83-94, Springer.
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    52. Sen, Amartya, 1974. "Informational bases of alternative welfare approaches : Aggregation and income distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 387-403, November.
    53. Sen, Amartya, 1980. "The Welfare Basis of Real Income Comparisons: A Reply," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1547-1552, December.
    54. Sen, Amartya, 1991. "Welfare, preference and freedom," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1-2), pages 15-29, October.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2004. "On the Measurement of Human Well-being: Fuzzy Set Theory and Sen's Capability Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-16, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Des Gasper, 2002. "Is Sen's Capability Approach an Adequate Basis for Considering Human Development?," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 435-461.
    3. Mehmet Pinar & Thanasis Stengos & Nikolas Topaloglou, 2013. "Measuring human development: a stochastic dominance approach," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 69-108, March.
    4. Hasan, Hamid, 2009. "Capabilities measurement: an empirical investigation," MPRA Paper 16742, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Aug 2009.
    5. Pressman, Steven, 2016. "John F. Tomer, Integrating Human Capital with Human Development: The Path to a More Productive and Humane Economy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). 231 pp. $120.00. ISBN: 978-1-137-47352-3," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 154-155.
    6. Steven Pressman & Gale Summerfield, 2002. "Sen and Capabilities," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 429-434.
    7. Robert Garnett, 2006. "Paradigms and pluralism in heterodox economics," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 521-546.
    8. William Jackson, 2005. "Capabilities, Culture and Social Structure," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(1), pages 101-124.
    9. Rodrigo Peres de Ávila & Izete Pengo Bangolin & Fávio Comin, 2008. "Heterogeneidades Individuais versus intensidade da Pobreza em Porto Alegre – RS," Anais do XXXVI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 36th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 200807181720230, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    10. Alba Distaso, 2005. "Local sustainable development and well-being/quality of life. An application of the capability approach at regional level," Quaderni DSEMS 25-2005, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Matematiche e Statistiche, Universita' di Foggia.

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