Economist: Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen was born on November 3, 1993 in Santiniketan, India. He is an Indian economist who was awarded Nobel Prize in 1998, for his contributions to welfare economic, social choice theory and his interest on the poorest people of the society. He was well known for his work on the causes of famine, which led to the development of practical solutions to prevent and limit the effects of shortages of food. Sen did his schooling at St Gregory’s School in Dhaka in 1940; from 1941 he joined Visva Bharati University School. He stood first in his I.Sc examination. He pursued his education from Presidency College in Kolkata. He completed his B.A. at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1955 where he earned the second degree in economics with

Yet it is also possible to consider what it has to offer to evaluations of specific areas of social policy, such as education. In recent years, there has been increase in international interest from people working in diverse sectors and fields of formal, informal and non-formal education in the potential of the capability approach to contribute ideas, policies and practices. The central idea of the capability approach is that social arrangements should aim to expand people’s capabilities – their freedom to promote or achieve ‘functioning’s’ which are important to them. ‘Functioning’s’ are defined as the states that make up people’s well-being and valuable activities, such as being safe, having a healthy life, having a good job. They are related to income and goods, but they describe what a person is able to do or be as a result – for example, when a person’s need for a commodity let say food is met; they enjoy the functioning of being well-nourished. Capabilities are ‘the alternative combination of functioning’s that are achievable for a person to achieve; they are ‘the substantive freedom’ a person has ‘to lead the kind of life he or she has reason to value’ (Sen, 1999: 87). [This article was published in Prospero, November 2007. It is based on a briefing written by the authors for the Human Development and Capability Association

Of course, groups and theorists might construct lists for various purposes, and lists need not be “canonical” or “pre-determined,” however we might understand these terms. And Sen 's denial to approve Nussbaum 's list has not prevented him from using—for various purposes—particular selections of capabilities in his normative as well as his empirical work. However, beyond stating in general terms that some democratic process and public reasoning should be involved, Sen has never explained in detail how such a selection could and should be