The Reading Room

Living author

Amartya Sen

1933-

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.

In the library

  • 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...