Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until 2004 the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1998 he won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for his contributions to welfare economics.” In their description of his work, the Nobel committee identified his core interests as follows: “Which are the most important and fundamental resources in a community and how should we divide them? One focus of Amartya Sen’s research is how individuals’ values can be considered in collective decision-making and how welfare and poverty can be measured.” The occasion for Dr. Sen’s appearance at the Center in April 2001 was to discuss themes from his bestseller of 1999, Development As Freedom.

Photo by Marilyn Humphries