Development as freedom

Development as Freedom

By: Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen Born in West Bengal, India to Bangladeshi

parents

Schooled in Calcutta and Cambridge – economics & philosophy

Best known for his work on causes for famine & famine prevention

1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Studies

“Mother Theresa of Economics”

Let’s Talk About Poverty

What is poverty?

What is wealth?

Why are poor people poor?

How do we change this?

“How far would wealth go to get them what they want?”

It’s More than Money

“Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something

else.” –Aristotle

“The usefulness of wealth lies in what we want it to do.”

“Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms

we enjoy.”

Development approach: “a process of expanding substantive freedoms that people have”

What is freedom?

Availability of food, health care, sanitation, clean water, gender equality, functional education, employment, social security, political liberty, & basic civil rights

“Greater freedom enhances the ability of people to help themselves and also to influence the world, and these matters are central to the

process of development.”

“Functionings”

Capabilities

Poverty as Capability Deprivation

What affects capability?

Age, gender & social roles, location, epidemiological atmosphere, etc.

Either income deprivation or adversity in converting income into functionings

Relative deprivation vs. Absolute deprivation

Mortality, Inequality, & Relative Deprivation African Americans in the US have lower survival

rates, especially in old age, than much poorer communities of Kerala, India and China.

Development & Culture

Is it better to be “rich & happy” or “impoverished and traditional”?

If the traditional way of life has to be sacrificed to escape grinding poverty or miniscule

longevity, the it is the people directly involved who must have the opportunity to participate in

deciding what should be chosen.”

Conflict: value that people should be allowed to decide freely which traditions to follow vs. established traditions are always followed

Economics of Freedom Development

From the beginning the study of economics was the study of freedom expansion

Economics has shifted more toward utilities, income, & wealth

Promotion of an open market

The market mechanism opens the door for provision of basic education, the presence of

elementary medical facilities, the availability of resources, and much more.

Famines & Other Crises

“Hunger relates not only to food production and agricultural expansion, but also to the functioning of the entire economy…”

Cause of famine: lack of ability to provide one’s own food or lack of availability of food in a

market setting

Hunger limits labor assets and production possibilities

Hunger and fear of hunger can destroy an economy

Production, diversification, and growth

Population, Food, & Freedom

Population control through public policy

Empowering women reduces fertility rate

Why reduce fertility rates?

Economically and emotionally beneficial for young women

“The solution of the population problem calls for more freedom, not less”

The Importance of Democracy

Economic & political incentives

“The process of preventing famines and other crises is significantly helped by the use of

instrumental freedoms…”

“An adequate approach of development cannot really be so centered only on those in power…”

Social Choice & Individual Behavior

We have to anticipate the unintended but predictable consequences – at the end of the day human beings are

self-centered and want to serve themselves primarily

The success of capitalism has to reach beyond self-centeredness

Avoid assumptions: high-minded and low-minded sentimentality

“Central to this approach is the idea of the public as an active participant in change, ather than as a passive and docile recipient of instructions or of dispensed

assistance.”

Individual Freedom as a Social Commitment

A variety of social institutions contribute to the process of development by enhancing and

sustaining individual freedoms

There is no “formula” for development

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,

That slaves, howe’er contented, never know.

- William Cowper