2010 Presenters
Amartya Sen
Born in Santiniketan, India, Amartya Sen studied at Presidency College in Calcutta India, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor Emeritus at Harvard and a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Master from 1998-2004. He has served as President of the Econometric Society, the Indian Economic Association, the American Economic Association and the International Economic Association. He is also Honorary President of OXFAM. Professor Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 for his contributions to the field of welfare economics.
Professor Sen is best known for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, poverty, gender inequality, and political philosophy. His books include Collective Choice, On Economic Inequality, On Ethics and Economics, Choice, Welfare and Measurement, Resources, Values and Development, The Standard of Living, Inequality Reexamined, and Development as Freedom.
Sen’s latest book, The Idea of Justice, argues that justice-thinking must take account of the lives people can actually lead, rather than merely abstract notions of perfect justice.
LINKS:
Time Magazine's Asian Heroes: Amartya Sen
Sen's Nobel Prize autobiography
Publisher's page in The Idea of Justice
Video: Sen discusses The Idea of Justice on C-SPAN
The Chronicle reviews The Idea of Justice
