The Influence of Sen’s Applied Economics on His Non-welfarist Approach to Justice

doi:10.1017/9781108882507.014

13 - The Influence of Sen’s Applied Economics on His Non-welfarist Approach to Justice

Agency at the Core of Public Action for Removing Injustices*

from Part II - Developing Modern Welfare Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2021

Muriel Gilardone

Edited by

Roger E. Backhouse ,

Antoinette Baujard and

Tamotsu Nishizawa

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Roger E. Backhouse: Affiliation:
University of Birmingham and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Antoinette Baujard: Affiliation:
Université de Lyon et Université Jean Monnet à Saint-Étienne
Tamotsu Nishizawa: Affiliation:
Teikyo University Japan

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Summary

This chapter shows that Sen’s (2009) non-welfarist approach to justice is greatly influenced by 1) his work on famines; 2) his empirical work on gender inequalities, specifically within the Indian society, that helped him to refine his approach to hunger; and 3) his involvement in the creation of the human development approach. All these engagements – seemingly completely separate from his theoretical work in welfare economics – have, in fact, fostered the formulation of a novel approach in which agency and public reasoning are the core elements.

Keywords

Amartya Sen agency public action famines gender inequalities human development perception bias democracy public reasoning non-welfarism

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values
Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics
, pp. 298 - 319

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108882507.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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