Amartya Sen

Economist of welfare, capability, and famines who reconnected development with freedom; 1998 Nobel laureate.

Specifications & Metrics

lifespan

1933-

nationality

Indian

school

Welfare and development

nobel year

1998

Core Principles & Analysis

• Poverty and Famines (1981) showed famines can occur without a fall in food supply, through collapsing entitlements.
• His capability approach, later extended by Martha Nussbaum, reframed development as what people can be and do.
• The 1998 Nobel was awarded for his contributions to welfare economics.

Sources

• NobelPrize.org: Amartya Sen, Facts