Amartya Sen
Indian · 1933–
Indian economist and philosopher, Nobel laureate, known for his work on welfare economics, social choice theory, and the capabilities approach to development.
Wikipedia ↗“Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticism from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.”
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“Development consists of the removal of various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency.”
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“The income-centred view of poverty is seriously flawed. What matters is not income itself but the capabilities that income makes possible — and these vary enormously depending on personal circumstances, social conditions, and natural environment.”
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“The central issue is not the old theme of having or not having markets. It is rather what institutions and arrangements can most effectively serve the aspirations and rights of the deprived.”
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“Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being.”
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“The freedom to live the way one would like is, it can be argued, deeply enriched by the ability to scrutinize and choose in an informed way.”
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“Justice is not merely about trying to achieve — or dreaming about achieving — some perfectly just society or institution, but about preventing manifestly severe injustice.”
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