![]() ![]() Though many economists assume that a high per capita income is a necessary prerequisite for these other forms of progress, Sen cites several examples that refute this assumption. Sen argues that if increasing incomes in a country are not accompanied by other factors that define a high standard of living (such as political freedom, the availability of “social goods,” including education, health care for all citizens, and protection from hunger and premature death) then the country is only getting richer. In his latest book, Development as Freedom, Sen defines development as “the enhancement of freedoms that allow people to lead lives that they have reason to value.” He believes that economists have put a misplaced emphasis on GDP as the golden measure of development, and thus his definition goes far beyond that of simply maximizing per capita income. ![]() ![]() For the past 35 years, he has devoted his considerable scholarly talent to solving the problems of economic development in poor countries. Amartya Sen, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics, has been called a “student of the world’s miserable.” Sen’s research has concentrated on the economic problems that affect the world’s poorest citizens: chronic hunger, famine, illiteracy, infant mortality, and disease. ![]()
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