Development as Freedom

The Nobel economist who redefined progress as the expansion of human freedom rather than the growth of output. Sen argues that the real measure of a society is what its people are actually able to do and to be, and that famine, illiteracy, and disenfranchisement are failures of freedom first, economics second. He brings the franchise and the capability into one frame. The vote, in his account, is not a luxury that follows development but a part of what development means.

The Nobel economist who redefined development as the expansion of human freedom rather than the growth of output. Development as Freedom argues that the test of progress is what people are actually able to do and to be, and that famine, illiteracy, and disenfranchisement are failures of freedom first. He brought the franchise and the capability into the same frame, and changed how the question is asked.