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OPHI WORKING PAPLR SLRILS

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Development
a misconceived theory can kill

forthcoming in C. Morris, Ed. Amartya Sen: Contemporary Philosophy in Focus. CUP


Sabina Alkire
OP, Qveev tiabetb ov.e,
|virer.it, of Ofora,
.abiva.at/ireqeb.o.ac.v/



OPlI \ORKING PAPLR NO. 11



1. Introduction______________________________________________________________2
1erms___________________________________________________________________2
Beyond Lconomic Deelopment ______________________________________________3
local ariables ____________________________________________________________4
Agency and Public Lngagement _______________________________________________5
Plural Principles and Justice Comparisons _______________________________________6
II. Deelopment \ritings _____________________________________________________7
Poerty Measurement I - Sen Index____________________________________________7
Poerty measurement. ______________________________________________________8
1he Market ______________________________________________________________9
Lducation ______________________________________________________________10
Gender I: Cooperatie conlict_______________________________________________12
Gender II: Missing \omen _________________________________________________13
Population and Reason_____________________________________________________14
lealth _________________________________________________________________15
lunger_________________________________________________________________16
Public Action ____________________________________________________________17
Bibliography_______________________________________________________________18



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I. Introduction
luman capabilities are partly created or undermined by deelopment policies, markets, and
other social arrangements. Put dierently, human reedom is partly human`-made. Sen`s
philosophical writings propose the expansion o human capabilities and reedoms as an objectie
or social arrangements, and argue that this objectie satisies certain considerations better than
Rawlsian primary goods or utility measures. In approaching deelopment, the chain o
exploration can also be reersed. 1he policies, practices, analyses, and measures that guide
deelopment institutions can be scrutinized to uncoer which truly aim at human reedoms, and
how true their aim might be. Much o Sen`s deelopment writings engage or draw on
inestigations o this orm. By such inspection the oersights o deelopment theories might be
uncoered and corrected. Such work is terribly salient, or lies are at stake. In deelopment, Sen
obseres, a misconceied theory can kill` ,Sen 1999a: 209,.

Sen`s writings on deelopment include nine books, eight co-authored books and oer 100 articles
addressing economic deelopment, poerty measurement, amines and hunger, gender
inequalities, education, health, employment, population and the enironment, written oer more
than 40 years. lis bestselling Deretovevt a. reeaov synthesizes preious work and proides an
introduction to this approach. Sen has also presented his approach in oeriew articles, as hae
others ,Sen 1980a, 1983a, 1984, Sen 1985b, Sen 1985a, 198, 1988, 1989, 1990a, Crocker 1992,
1995, Qizilbash 1996, Alkire 2005, Clark 2005, Robeyns 2005,. Gien the abundance o writings,
this chapter can only synthesize a ew key insights regarding concrete actions to expand people`s
capabilities, and the method o analysis. lere, attention is paid to capability expansion not
primarily as a criterion o justice ,although o course relections on justice can be inormed by
this analysis,, but as eidence that deelopment has occurred. Deelopment thus deined can be
inestigated independently o whether goernments and institutions articulate their objecties in
terms o expanding capabilities, or increasing economic growth, or any other possible sets o
social goals.

1he irst section o this chapter orients the reader to the relationship between deelopment and
reedoms. 1he second section demonstrates how Sen uses aspects o the capability approach in
relation to poerty measurement, the market, education, gender, population and reason, health,
and hunger.

1he trouble with oeriews is that instead o distilling an essence they tend merely to shed all
charms o style, and lose not only the playulness o the conersation but a chorus o
counterarguments and subtleties as well. So although I can see no way around this predicament
let me at least acknowledge what has been lost, and urge readers to rush out to etch the original
texts - which tend to be ar juicier reading than this chapter lets on.
1erms
Sen`s capability approach` has deeloped oer 25 years. It has employed core terms o
capabilities, unctionings, well-being and agency. More recent writings emphasize the
terminology o reedoms, particularly opportunity reedoms and process reedoms ,which may
be personal or systemic, ,Sen 1999a, Sen 2002b: Ch 19-21,. 1hus beore beginning it may be
useul to reiterate the key terms.

Caabititie. represent the arious combinations o unctionings ,beings and doings, that the
person can achiee. Capability is, thus, a set o ectors o unctionings, relecting the person`s
reedom to lead one type o lie or another... to choose rom possible liings` ,Sen 1992b: 40,.
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Capabilities are the substantie reedoms he or she enjoys to lead the kind o lie he or she has
reason to alue` ,Sen 1999a: 8,.

reeaov, when used to describe a social or economic objectie - in the phrase Deretovevt a.
reeaov or example - is an irreducibly plural concept` ,Sen 2002b: 585,. 1wo oerlapping kinds
o reedom are o particular note. Proce.. freeaov relates to reedom o action and decisions`
,Sen 1999a: 1, and other procedural considerations, and may be considered at the personal leel
or at the systemic leel. Oortvvit, freeaov relates to the opportunities that are aailable to people
which they alue and hae reason to alue - their reedom to achiee alued outcomes.
Although the terms are not synonymous, opportunity reedoms are closely related to capabilities,
and process reedoms are related to agency and the conditions in which people and groups can
exert agency.

Deretovevt pertains to positie processes o social, economic and political change that expand
alued capabilities ,Sen 2003a,. Although deelopment is most oten associated with poorer
countries, Sen`s capability approach and the related human deelopment approach applies
equally to rich countries. Indeed Deretovevt a. reeaov is replete with examples rom such
deeloped` countries as the UK, Japan, the USA, and Italy.
Beyond Lconomic Development
So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that o any other, in eery case as
an end withal, neer as means only.`
1
It is with this sentence rom Immanuel Kant`s work that
Sen begins an exposition o deelopment. 1he status o human beings as ends` o
deelopment must be reiterated, Sen argues, because human beings also happen to be - directly
or indirectly-the primary means o all production`. In act, the dominant approach to
economic deelopment regards people rivciatt, as means. lor example, the economic planning
and policy making by which deelopment adances largely appreciates production and
prosperity as the essence o progress` hence considers the expansion o real income and .
economic growth as the characteristics o successul deelopment.`
2
People are alued insoar
as they adance growth and prosperity.

In contrast, Sen`s approach to deelopment irmly places economic growth and real income in
the category o means. So Sen oten cites with approal Aristotle`s obseration that wealth is
eidently not the good we are seeking, or it is merely useul and or the sake o something else`
,Sen 1990a: 44 citing ,Aristotle 1984,: book I, sect. 5,. Rather than aiming only or economic
growth or the expansion o markets or real income or wealth, Sen argues that the objectie o
deelopment should be the expansion o people`s capabilities - o their real reedoms, their
opportunities to achiee and enjoy states o aairs that they alue and hae reason to alue.
Income, market expansion, and growth are useul to the extent that they promote these
intrinsically aluable ends. Gien this emphasis, Sen`s and related approaches to deelopment are
oten reerred to as human deelopment` to distinguish them rom growth-oriented
deelopment.

1o wrest the orientation o deelopment away rom income and economic growth alone might
seem an elementary moe. It is certainly preliminary, and Sen and others` work urther speciy
this moe conceptually as well as methodologically. Lmpirical studies demonstrate the dierence
this change in orientation makes. But it is worth pausing to study why Sen`s writings on

1
(Sen 1990a): 41 citing (Kant 1785): sect. II; (Kant 1909): 47. Note that Sens understanding of well-being,
and it would seem, of humanity is broader than Kants.
2
(Sen 1990a) this and previous quotes.
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deelopment oten begin with a orceul clariication o the relationship between means and
ends. It seems arguable that seeral signiicant eatures ollow rom the shit in objectie: lirst,
the focat rariabte shits. 1raditionally, deelopment ocused on income or consumption, here the
ocal ariables are people`s capabilities - which comprise a wider set o dimensions, not all o
which are necessarily the subject o public policy. Second, considerably greater attention is gien
to the role o bvvav agevc,, public debates and social moements in making social choices and
adancing deelopment goals. 1hird, roceavrat considerations such as human rights, democracy,
equity, and sustainability supplement the traditional ocus on eiciency.

1aking these in order:
Iocal variables
\hen deelopment is deined by economic growth, and a healthy economy is one that is
growing strongly, then the unit o analysis is eident: the economy. 1his may be the national
economy, or the economy o a particular region or sector. 1he currency o assessment is likewise
clear: growth in income per capita. In contrast, i deelopment is deined by real reedoms, and a
healthy economy is one that contributes to the expansion or growth in dierse people`s real
reedoms, then the analysis shits to each person aected by the economy and the currency o
assessment becomes their capabilities. Questions o how to prioritize and weight, aggregate and
ealuate distributions o dierent capabilities, the capabilities o dierent people, and people`s
capabilities in dierent time periods, must be addressed explicitly.

Sen`s writings on capability undergird this shit to a people-centred` approach by proiding a
conceptual sub-structure. 1his conceptual ramework could support not only Sen`s writings but
also a range o related broader approaches including the basic human needs approach ,Ghai and
International Labour Oice 19, Streeten and \orld Bank 1981, Stewart 1985, and some
approaches based on human rights or ubuntu. Indeed, Sen careully distinguished this approach
rom utilitarianism and reealed preerence theories, which underlie support or economic
growth, as well as rom resource-based approaches.

By shiting the objectie o deelopment rom a unitary, tangible measure that can be aggregated
,income,, to dierse human capabilities, which ary across people and across time, and are to
some degree incommensurable, Sen`s approach shits deelopment` onto ethical ground. 1he
term human deelopment` is oten used to signal this shit. 1he objectie now relates to what
lie we lead and what we can or cannot do, can or cannot be` ,Sen, Muellbauer et al. 198: 16, -
topics on which people`s reasoned iews dier. 1he inormation that is morally releant to the
assessment o social arrangements also expands quite signiicantly, and can include non-
economic and non-material aspects o lie such as cultural actiities, dignity, sel-respect, and
other meaningul actiities and states ,Sen 199, Sen 1985b, 1999a,.

It may be worth underlining this last point explicitly, i only to counter potential
misunderstandings. luman deelopment is vot deined by the inclusion o health and education
in deelopment analyses. It is more than this. Depriations with respect to health and education
are indeed core elements o deelopment, and hae been recognized by participatory, social
exclusion, capability, and income approaches among others. lurthermore, as we shall see, the
luman Deelopment Index and the luman Poerty Index gie prominence to health and
education, and were deeloped by a team including Sen in order to contrast human deelopment
with income-based ealuations o deelopment. loweer the indices were also shaped by
easibility considerations, including data constraints on internationally comparable data, and the
need to hae a terribly simple and compelling public message. lealth and education do not
exhaust the kinds o capabilities that are releant to deelopment analyses. In act, a growing
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body o research demonstrates that people, including people who are absolutely poor` in
material terms, alue dimensions such as saety rom iolence, lielihoods, agency, and
relationships undamentally. 1he 2004 vvav Deretovevt Reort also proposed cultural liberties
,a term that encompasses social, cultural, and religious reedoms, as a ourth pillar` o human
deelopment.

1he ocal ariables o deelopment dier rom income not only in their plurality, but also in the
act that the reedoms that comprise the objectie` o deelopment in any gien context depend
in part upon the alues o the reerent population. Capabilities are reedoms that people ratve ava
bare rea.ov to ratve. Value judgments are entailed in the identiication o reedoms at the indiidual
and collectie leel, in the prioritization among capabilities that can be created or undermined by
deelopment processes, and in the distribution o widely alued capabilities among dierent
people and groups. lurthermore, as these judgments may eole - or example with new
inormation or because the reerent population has changed - existing priorities should, Sen
argues, be the subject o explicit scrutiny and ongoing public discussion.
3

Agency and Public Lngagement
In this approach to deelopment, people are to be considered and inoled not merely as sel-
interested utility maximisers, but as agents who contribute to social choices and alue
judgements, as well as to deelopment actiities. An agent is someone who acts and brings
about change, and whose achieements can be judged in terms o her own alues and objecties,
whether or not we assess them in terms o some external criteria as well` ,Sen 1999a: 19,. \hile
agency may be used to urther actiities that expand the actor`s own utility unction ,what Adam
Smith called .,vatb,,, in other situations people`s agency ,covvitvevt) may drie a wedge
between personal choice and personal welare, and much o traditional economic theory relies on
the identity o the two`. 1he capability approach innoates beyond deelopment theory in
introducing - and indeed emphasizing - commitment-based agency ,Sen 19,.

\hen Dreze and Sen apply the capabilities approach to the Indian situation in their book vaia:
Deretovevt ava Particiatiov agency igures centrally.
1he approach used in this book is much concerned with the opportunities that people
hae to improe the quality o their lies. It is essentially a people-centered` approach,
which puts human agency ,rather than organizations such as markets or goernments,
at the centre o the stage. 1he crucial role o social opportunities is to expand the
realm o human agency and reedom, both as an end in itsel and as a means o urther
expansion o reedom ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 6,.
It may be useul to obsere a ew characteristics o agency. lirst, agency is not limited to
decision-making control, it also includes situations o eectie power, in which decisions are
exercised in line with what we would hae chosen and because o it` ,Sen 1985b: 211,. Second,
eectie power is oten held by groups rather than indiiduals: Gien the interdependences o
social liing, many liberties are not separately exercisable, and eectie power may hae to be
seen in terms o what all, or nearly all, members o the group would hae chosen.` ,Sen 1985b:
211,. 1hird, agency may be exercised to adance the well-being o the agent and the agent`s
amily or community, but it might equally well be exercised to adance some other-regarding
aims the person alues and has reason to alue, such as to comort ictims o a disaster, or to
protect an endangered species. lourth, a ully worked out account o agency might also include
some assessment o the responsibility o an agent - based on their role in creating the situation,
and on their eectie power and their imperect obligations towards others ,Sen 1983b, Sen
1985b,.

3
The kinds of value judgements under discussion are non-compulsive; see (Sen 1967)
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1his account o human agency diers signiicantly rom bovo oecovovicv.. lor example, the
assumption that a single sel-interested motiation will adequately predict human behaior is no
longer either suicient or required ,Sen 19, Alkire and Deneulin 2002,. Indiiduals are iewed
not only as centres o their own well-being ,which they aim to optimize, but also as actors and
agents, whose actiities ,including but not limited to buying and selling, adance or constrain
deelopment. lurthermore, agents can act as veav. or reducing their own poerty directly, or
or conronting poerty in their society. Sen writes, indiidual agency is, ultimately, central to
addressing these depriations. On the other hand, the reedom o agency that we indiidually
hae is inescapably qualiied and constrained by the social, political and economic opportunities
that are aailable to us` ,Sen 1999a: xi -xii,. 1hus a central objectie o deelopment,
alongside the expansion o capabilities, is the cultiation and support o agency as an end and as
a means: Greater reedom enhances the ability o people to help themseles and also to
inluence the world, and these matters are central to the process o deelopment` ,Sen 1999a:
18,.

In sum, there is a two-way relationship between people as agents, and deelopment - which is
partly created by human agency. lreedoms and capabilities can be enhanced by public policy,
but also, on the other side, the direction o public policy can be inluenced by the eectie use o
participatory capabilities by the public` ,Sen 1999a: 18,. 1hus people`s agency, alues, and
relections orm an integral and actie part o the deelopment process. Indeed the
interrelationship between deelopment and reedom - the ways in which more reedoms create a
means to deelopment as well as shaping its end - proides a distinctie core in Sen`s approach.
Plural Principles and Justice Comparisons
Sen`s approach to deelopment subordinates economic growth and market expansion within the
larger ramework o human reedom, which entails a wider inormational basis, and, as we shall
briely obsere, a substantially wider rationality. 1he capability approach identiies a space or the
ealuation o social welare and deelopment that is, it argues, superior to utility or commodities.
1o adance aeretovevt requires more than merely the identiication o a space, howeer. It
requires the comparison o dierent states o aairs, een i these are incomplete or only
generate partial orderings. 1raditional economics employs eiciency as the primary criterion,
embodied in the principle o Pareto Optimality. Comparisons may also employ considerations
such as the equity o their capability distributions across class, or gender, or social groups, or the
extent to which certain undamental rights are respected, or the extent to which a political
process is transparent and can be inluenced by igorous public debate. Sen argues that plural
principles such as these - which are components o a wider ethical rationality - can be
introduced into a consequential ealuation` ,ocused, at least in part, on expanding people`s
capabilities, ,see Sen 2000,.

lor example, human rights - including social, cultural, economic, political, and ciil rights - can
be incorporated into the ealuation o states o aairs, which allows rights ,or the inringement
o rights, to be considered in comparing alternatie courses o action ,Sen 1982: 5-39, 1983b:
113-32, 2004,. Lquity is also to be included, as we shall see in the section on missing women.
Another principle that might be considered is the preention o capability contractions - which
might be called human security. Larlier we noted that the objectie o human deelopment is to
expand human capabilities. As laudable as this buoyant and progressie objectie is, Sen also
obseres that it is ar too upbeat to ocus on rearguard actions needed to secure what has to be
saeguarded.` In other situations, including war and conlict or inancial crisis or an epidemic,
the notion o human security becomes particularly releant.`
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Principles such as human rights, equity, protection rom downside risk, and others thus
complement the principle o eiciency and capability expansion in this approach.

Deelopment, then, is concerned with expanding people`s reedoms and capabilities, with
treating people as agents, and with plural principles o assessment. 1hese considerations might
be brought together by a dierent approach to justice, which Sen reers to as comparatie`. A
comparatie approach to justice unctions by undertaking pairwise comparison and ranking o
alternatie societal arrangements in terms o justice ,whether some arrangement is less just` or
more just` than another,. A comparatie approach also allows systematic room or
incompleteness` - because some principles may conlict, some data may be missing, and also
people will dier in their assessment o the appropriate principles. Despite these limitations, a
maximizing yet incomplete comparatie approach could be used to identiy and reject options
that are clearly inerior to others according multiple principles or considerations.

II. Development Writings

1his section sureys some o Sen`s empirical contributions to dierent topics that all, broadly,
within deelopment as sketched aboe. 1he deelopment ramework just sketched indicates the
airectiov towards which these contributions extend deelopment analyses that were current at the
dierent times o writing ,they are not presented chronologically,, but in some cases, such as the
Sen-Index we will address next, the particular contribution is quite an initial step o an ongoing
literature that inoled many other authors. 1he purpose o this section is to proide readers
with a guide to well-known insights ound in Sen`s deelopment writings - regarding poerty
measurement, markets, the market, basic education, cooperatie conlicts, missing women,
population and reason, health and hunger - rather than to gie a more general oeriew o each
topic.
Poverty Measurement I Sen Index
The simplest and most pervasive poverty measure still is the head-count ratio which
reports the percentage of the population who fall below a [income] poverty line (e.g. 34% of
the population are poor). When this measure is used to guide policy, however, several flaws
appear. Sens initial work on poverty measurement did not focus on measuring capabilities
but rather on the income-based poverty measures. In particular he drew attention to the
insensitivity of the headcount index to the depth of poverty. Assume there are gradations of
poverty among those who live beneath the poverty line. When poverty is measured only by a
head-count ratio, it appears to be as much of a triumph to lift one person who was $3 below
the poverty line above it as it is to lift one person who was $300 below it. Thus policy makers
will naturally try to reduce poverty the most by focusing their efforts on the people who are
nearest to the poverty line or whose condition is easiest to alleviate. A related problem is that
if some of those living beneath the poverty line were further impoverished while the poverty
of a few near to the poverty line was reduced, this would count, again, as a victory, because
the measure is insensitive to the distribution of poverty below the poverty line.

In response, a second class o poerty measures were deeloped that ocus on the depth o
poerty - usually by measuring the gap` between the person`s income ,or example - other
indicators could be used, and the |income| poerty line. 1he measure, which aerages the
poerty gap or all o the poor persons, is indeed sensitie to the depth` o poerty.
The Sen-Index is a measure of income poverty that reflects the distribution of poverty
among the poor (Sen 1973, 1976, Sen and Foster 1997). The Sen-Index combines three
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measures into one: the head-count ratio, the poverty-gap measure, and a measure of
distribution of income among the poor (the Gini coefficient). The measure gave rise to a
considerable literature,
4
which applied and also modified and improved the Sen-Index so that
it could satisfy some properties that the original measure could not in particular sub-group
decomposability which is relevant in some but by no means all contexts.
Poverty measurement.
Sen has argued since the 1980s that poerty should be conceied not as lowness o income but
rather in terms o capability depriation. \hat the capability perspectie does in poerty
analysis is to enhance the understanding o the nature and causes o poerty and depriation by
shiting primary attention away rom veav. to eva. that people hae reason to pursue, and,
correspondingly, to the freeaov. to be able to satisy these ends` ,Sen 1999a: 90,. Clearly income
is a key eature o poerty, and is correlated with other kinds o impoerishment. loweer the
statistical connection is imperect, and policies may be better crated by considering their
contribution to human reedoms.
5


Considerable eidence can be brought to bear showing the imperections o a statistical
relationship between income and capabilities. lor example, the relationship between income
and capability would be strongly aected by the age o the person., by gender and social roles
,e.g., through special responsibilities o maternity and also custom-determined amily
obligations,, by location ,e.g., by proneness to looding or drought, or by insecurity and
iolence.,, by epidemiological atmosphere..and by other ariations oer which a person may
hae no - or only limited - control ,Sen 1999a: 88,. Another example o the inadequacy o
income as a proxy or reedom is that measures o income per household will obscure
inequalities o distribution within the household - such as discrimination against girl children -
that direct measures o nutrition and health would reeal.

1he important point to note is that the aluation o income is entirely as a means to
other ends and also that it is one means among others.Income is, o course, a crucially
important means, but its importance lies in the act that it helps the person to do the
things that she alues doing and to achiee states o being that she has reasons to desire.
1he worth o incomes cannot stand separated rom these deeper concerns, and a society
that respects indiidual well-being and reedom must take note o these concerns in
making interpersonal comparisons as well as social ealuations ,Sen 199: 384-401,.

lurthermore, persons who are capability depried - disabled or ill or example - may both hae
greater diiculty in earning an income, and may require more income than others. On the
positie side, howeer, persons with greater capabilities - or example in health and education -
not only enjoy these direct beneits but hae also been shown to be, on the whole, more
productie economically as well. lor these reasons, Sen argues that policies o poerty reduction,
een i they employ income measures or certain approximations, should aim at capability
expansion.


4
References to the secondary literature are also in (Sen and Foster 1997): 171 fn 86. More recent measurement
work has extended these considerations in multidimensional space. See (Alkire and Foster 2007, Kakwani
and Silber 2008a, b)
5
In Development as Freedom Sen cites a study by Sudhir Anand and Martin Ravallion. Their study first
documented a correlation between life expectancy and income a common observation but then went on to
show that the correlation worked through the incomes of the poor and public expenditure especially
expenditures related to basic health. These variables explained all of the relevant correlation. (Sen 1999a: 44)
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In a similar way Sen argues that policies to reduce inequality should be ramed with respect to
capabilities rather than income alone. lor example, Luropean income inequality is relatiely low,
but this obscures ery high rates o unemployment. In contrast American income inequality is
high, but unemployment rates are ar lower ,implying a lower inequality in the opportunity to be
employed,. 1hus to ocus only on reducing income inequality would be to oerlook the
Luropean unemployment problem altogether. Similarly the income inequality between Arican
American men and women and other American citizens is considerable, although Arican
Americans are still better o, in terms o income, than citizens in deeloping countries. loweer
the lie expectancy o Arican American men is torer than people in China, or Kerala, Sri Lanka,
Costa Rica, Jamaica, and many other countries. A policy merely to reduce income inequality in
America would oerlook this intense health depriation. Comparing inequalities in other spaces
- or example undernourishment, inant mortality or adult literacy in select states o India or
countries in Arica - similarly brings to light stark and distinct patterns that income comparisons
would oerlook, but that are releant or policy.

1hus the application o Sen`s ramework to issues o poerty requires a re-raming o the means
and ends inoled. Policy debates hae indeed been distorted by oer-emphasis on income
poerty and income inequality, to the neglect o depriations that relate to other ariables, such
as unemployment, ill health, lack o education, and social exclusion` ,Sen 1999a: 108,. \hen a
broader range o capabilities are considered, then o course policies will embody alue
judgements as to the relatie importance o dierse capabilities. lere, too, Sen`s approach brings
a distinctie iew, in adocating public participation and discussion o the priorities embodied by
public policy.

1he pioneering poerty measure designed to prooke such debates is the luman Deelopment
Index or lDI released in 1990. 1he lDI combines three components: measures o basic
education, longeity, and income. 1he index was created as a summary measure o deelopment
to contrast with the dominant measure, GNP per capita and raise questions at a popular leel
about the objecties o deelopment. Mahbub ul laq, the director o the newly created luman
Deelopment Report Oice o the United Nations Deelopment Program ,UNDP, called or
an index o the same leel o ulgarity as the GNP - just one number - but a measure that is not
as blind to social aspect o human lies as the GNP is` ,Sen 1998,. 1he index was crated by a
group including Sudhir Anand and Sen ,1994,, and eery year the vvav Deretovevt Reort o
the United Nations Deelopment Program ranks all countries according to this index.
1he Market
Sen iews the market as a basic arrangement through which people can interact with each other
and undertake mutually adantageous actiities` ,Sen 1999a: 142,.
Sen contrasts his iew with an approach in which the market expansion is promoted almost
without qualiications. lis irst contrast is positie towards the market, and addresses the rea.ov.
that markets are worthwhile. \hile the dominant iew alues markets because o the results they
produce, Sen argues that the reedoms to buy, sell, exchange, seek employment, and transact
hae alue themseles, quite separately rom alued market outcomes. Bonded labor, eudalism,
the prohibition o emale employment in some areas, and the denial o economic reedom under
communism, all represent iolations o the ery reedoms that markets introduce.

A second characteristic o the perect market is Pareto optimality, which is a type o eiciency in
which no person`s utility can be increased without someone else`s utility being reduced. 1his
eiciency result, Sen demonstrates, can also be reached i persons` well-being is considered in the
space o aluable capabilities. But as is well-known, Pareto optimality is a limited notion een o
eiciency, and is blind to the distribution o utilities or goods or reedoms. Sen argues that
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markets outcomes should botb be considered according to eiciency and equity ,and at times
according to other principles as well, ,Sen 2000,. 1hat way any conlicts or tradeos between
eiciency and equity ,or example, can be deliberated together, and social priorities set in ull
iew o all releant considerations.

Considerations o capability equity are particularly important because ested interests with much
to gain will try to skew markets in their own aor ,and oten succeed in doing so,: Political
inluence in search o economic gain is a ery real phenomenon in the world in which we lie`
,Sen 1999a: 122 re Dani Rodrik,. 1hus the highlighting and debate o inequities ,and other
shortcomings o the market,, and the introduction o certain market restrictions, is an important
component underlying well-unctioning markets themseles. Sen thus adocates public
discussion not only to deliberate equity-eiciency trade-os, but also to protect markets against
special interests. In the test o open democracy, public interest may well hae excellent
prospects o winning against the spirited adocacy o the small coterie o ested interests.the
remedy has to lie in more reedom - including that o public discussion and participatory
political decisions` ,Sen 1999a: 123,.

linally, although much o economic deelopment rightly ocuses on market expansion, markets
are by no means suicient institutions or adancing human reedoms. Vigorous, well-supported
non-market institutions are required or the proision o public goods such as public health,
deense, police, and in many cases basic education. Many low-income countries hae managed to
inest in strong social systems, and indeed these proide a strong oundation or equitable
growth - which shows again the interconnections between these institutions and markets. A inal
eature o this approach, coming back again to the perspectie reedom, is to see people - een
beneiciaries - as agents rather than as motionless patients` ,Sen 1999a: 13,.
Lducation
Lducation can hae intrinsic alue, as a capability people deeply enjoy - the ability to read a new
poem, to satisy their curiousity on some subject, to deepen their understanding o history and o
world aairs or example. It is also astoundingly useul. Literacy, or example, enables people
better to naigate in society - they can become aware o their legal rights, take out a bank loan,
secure better employment, write to amily and loed ones, engage with new technologies.
Lducation can also be a catalyst o social change` ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 143, - enabling people
to oercome historical inequalities due to class, gender, caste, race, disability, and so on. Indeed
disadantaged groups in India widely perceie education to be the most promising means o
upward mobility or their children` ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 144,. lurthermore, an educated
populace can be empowered to undertake public action, to lobby, ote, organize campaigns, and
make their alues and demands heard eectiely. As the title o an article 1o Build A Country
Build a Schoolhouse` might suggest, Sen, and Drze and Sen, repeatedly and emphatically
underline the undamental importance o education. It is hard to oerstate the need or
unequiocal rejection o.dismissie iews o the alue o education. A irm commitment to the
widespread and equitable proision o basic education is the irst requirement o rapid progress
in eradicating educational depriation in India` ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 146, see Sen 2002c,.

A clear reason or emphasizing education lies in the educational depriations that so many ace.
1aking the example o India, Dreze and Sen obsered that hal o the adult population are
unable to read and write. lurther, literacy is unequally spread by gender and geography, with
86 emale literacy in the Indian state o Kerala compared with 20 in Rajasthan. Illiteracy rises
sharply in rural areas, and among scheduled castes and tribes. lurther, while school attendance
increased signiicantly in the 1990s, the progress did not beneit all o these groups equally.
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Moreoer, in some areas teachers are oten absent, the quality o education is, in other cases,
extremely poor.

laing established that educational capabilities should be expanded, the question is how 1he
analysis in Dreze and Sen demonstrates the thorough, many-aceted kind o analysis which
explores connections between deelopment actions and human capabilities. lere are some o
the ootprints o that exploration. One possible cause o low education is that education is not a
alued capability in the eyes o the parents and the communities. loweer a parent surey ound
keen interest among parents in children`s education and indeed in girls` education also. Another
possibility was that the need or child labor prohibited depried amilies rom sending children
to school - again this was not substantiated empirically. Rather, the barriers appeared to be the
aordability o books and uniorms, the distance to schools, and the anticipated returns to
education - which are stronger or boys than or girls. Perhaps the strongest barrier was the low
quality o education - ramshackle schools, large class sizes, a complex curriculum structure, and
unmotiated teachers. lurther analysis showed that a signiicant contribution to the low quality
o education weak motiation and accountability o goernment teachers - either to school
inspectors or to the parents and local community.

1he analysis then turned to obsere that the Indian constitution ,Article 45, urges states to
proide ree and compulsory education or children up to 14 years old. Political parties hae
reiterated this commitment, promising to increase educational expenditure. Instead, goernment
o India igures show that expenditure declined rom 4.4 o GDP in 1989 to 3.6 in 199
,Dreze and Sen 2002: 166,. 1he analysis implied there might be reason or parents and others to
demand political responses to the ramshackle schools and missing teachers.

1o deepen this consideration o pro-actie public action by parents the positie experience o
one state - limachal Pradesh ,lP, - in urthering basic education was analysed. Between 1961
and 1991, girls` literacy improed rom 61 to 86 and by 1998-9, school attendance was aboe
9 or both girls and boys - a rate higher than that o Kerala. 1his adance took place against
considerable odds: lP has many remote areas that are diicult to access, has been oerlooked by
priate or religious schools, and relied economically on child labour. \hile it is one o the
wealthier Indian states, its educational adances were not mirrored in other states o a similar
economic leel such as the Punjab or larayana. Dreze and Sen trace the irtuous circle` that
deeloped in lP. By drawing on and mobilizing on a strong tradition o local cooperation and
collaboration or shared ends, groups created a politically salient impetus to inest in education.
A relatiely egalitarian economic structure assured that the expansion o education occurred
relatiely eenly, and that teachers and students were o similar status. lurthermore, because
women in lP do regularly work outside the home, education increased their economic capacity,
which proided a balanced incentie or girls and boys to attend school and, similarly, to teach
school.

On the basis o this analysis o the educational shortcomings, Dreze and Sen adocate a political
mobilisation in support o basic education, that would work locally as well as through ormal
political and economic channels:
\hat is perhaps most striking o all is that the ailures o goernment policy oer an
extended period hae prooked so little political challenge. . 1he act that the
goernment was able to get away with so much in the ield o elementary education
relates to the lack o political power o the illiterate masses.It also relects the
act.that the social alue o basic education has been neglected not only by goernment
authorities but also in social and political moements` ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 18,.

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1his account o education and deelopment gies the laour o Sen`s method o inestigating a
deelopment priority. It considers the possible ratve o education - intrinsically as well as
instrumentally, and the aeriratiov. that many experience in education, and examines why. Is it
that basic education is not ratvea by the releant group ,parents and students, Are they blocked
rom taking adantage o it, thus lack the reat reedom to be educated although they may hae
ormal access Or are there institutional reasons or non-attendance - in this case deep laws in
the public education system itsel laing diagnosed, as it were, core issues, the analysis turns to
actions that people ,parents and students and teachers as well as public institutions in this
example, could undertake as agevt. in order to redress the situation. In this case, drawing on the
example o lP, these include political action and direct inolement.
Gender I: Cooperative conflict
Sen describes himsel in part, as a eminist economist,` ,Sen, Agarwal et al. 2003: 322, and
gender recurs throughout writings on many themes. Drawing on arious empirical studies, Sen
regularly consolidates or readers the eidence rom other studies that women`s agency and work
aects the lies o all amily members - men and children as well as others in the public.
\omen`s empowerment, oten generated by an improement in women`s education and
employment and property rights, leads to important changes. lor example, repeated empirical
studies show that empowering women increases the proportion o resources within a amily that
women control, decreases ertility, and increases child surial and health.

In addition to building on preious studies, Sen deelops a distinct theoretical insight on
cooperatie conlicts. Sen irst clariied cooperatie conlicts with respect to the relationship
between women and men within the household, and subsequently has used this as the basis on
which to scrutinize globalization. 1he insight is this: consider a woman Lila and a man Milo who
join together and orm a co-operatie household. It is likely that their cooperation enables a
higher standard o liing than they could attain singly. At the same time, they could diide the
gains` that arise rom their cooperation in many ways. In some possible scenarios, Milo would
be a great deal better o with respect to his ormer bachelordom and Lila only marginally better,
in others Lila would excel. In all situations, we presume, each person`s position is better than it
would be i they split up. In such situations, Sen argues, it is important to recognize the particular
nature o bargaining, which he terms cooperatie conlicts` - how the gains o cooperation are
diided among cooperating partners. Unlike other sorts o conlicts, these are likely to be largely
implicit, and occur under the guise o cooperation that deines the relationship.

In the diagram below, position l ,origin, represents the allback position o being single. 1he
ertical axis represents the man`s beneits rom the relationship, the horizontal, the woman`s
beneits. 1he oal traces the easible outcomes or their relationship. Obiously the lower cures
are dominated by the upper, so the couple is likely to choose some point along the upper cure
AB. loweer as is readily apparent, the point they choose may well be ar better or the man
than the woman or ice ersa. It is in the man`s interest to go as ar let as possible along the
cure, to the woman`s to go as ar right. As Sen obseres, 1he choice oer AB is one o pure
covftict and that between any gien point on AB and the all-back position l is one o pure co
oeratiov` ,Sen 1985c: 201,.
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Cooperatie conlicts can occur not only between men and women, but between members o
many groups. In order to detect and consider the disparities in members` beneits rom
belonging to a group or collectie enterprise, Sen ocuses attention on the capability o indiidual
people rather than only considering the sum total o the household and groups. 1his curiosity
regarding people`s actual welare within the boundary o a group recurs in many other settings,
or example in considering issues o intrahousehold distribution o ood.
Gender II: Missing Women
Another signiicant inding on gender equality was publicized amously through the title o 100
million missing women`.

1he problem arose rom the ollowing sequence o empirical


obserations:
In the natural state 5 more boys than girls are born.
But women are hardier than men, and, gien similar care, surie better at all
ages` ,Sen 1992c: 58,.
Not only in Lurope and America, but also in Sub-Saharan Arica, women
outnumber men.
In some parts o Asia and North Arica, the gender ratio was reersed. Instead o
the ratio o women to men being 1.05 ,as in Lurope, or 1.02 ,as in Sub-Saharan
Arica,, it was between 0.90 ,Pakistan, and 0.95 ,Lgypt, ,Data in Sen 1992c,.
Closer examination o this inequality in 1992 suggested that women and
particularly young girls were being systematically depried o nutritional and
health requirements in the countries, which increased their mortality.

1o highlight the magnitude o this problem, Sen calculated the number o girls and women
whose premature deaths underlay the skewed male-emale ratios using the Sub-Saharan ratio as
normal`. 1he eidence showed that more than 100 million women were missing rom the planet.

6
This finding was first published in Hunger and Public Action (Drze and Sen 1989): 51f and subsequently in
the British Medical Journal, (Sen 1992c), and revisited in (Sen 2003b). See also (Sen 1999a: 104f), Notes 319,
(Sen 1990b), (Klasen 1994), (Klasen and Wink 2003), (Klasen and Wink 2002), (Croll 2001), (Hicks 2003)
F
B
A
Mans
Benefit
Womans Benefit
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1his eye-catching inding generated urther empirical work on the calculation itsel as well as on
the underlying gender inequalities it adertised.

Recently Sen returned to the issue o dierential mortality, noting that while girls` surial rates
had improed tremendously this has been counterbalanced by a new emale disadantage-that
in natality-through sex speciic abortions aimed against the emale etus` ,Sen 2003b: 129,.
Because o sex speciic abortions in the North and \est o India, or example, sex ratios at birth
hae become alarmingly low - between 9.3 and 89. girls to 100 boys in our states. Sex
selectie abortion - like the undernourishment o girls - is a concrete symptom o a deeper
gender bias. 1he empirical 100 million headline does much to publicise the new problem and
encourage urther examination o it.

1his work explicitly introduces the principle o equity into considerations o deelopment,
alongside capability expansion. lor i one were interested solely in equalizing the capability to
lie a long lie, or example ,which would not be an unreasonable position i basal equality is to
be considered in capability space, ,Sen 1992a,, these and other missing women` would be the
ineitable side-eect. Medical attention might be gien preerentially to men - at least aboe a
certain age - to prolong their lies, and so on. Lquity introduces a more balanced ramework or
ealuation.

Population and Reason
Sen argues that the problem of increasing population requires more freedom, not less (Sen
1999a: 216). In the analysis of population control, attention is steadily directed to parents as
agents. The view of persons that Sens approach draws upon is consistent with the approach
outlined in education above. People are seen as agents whose values can be informed, and
who can be engaged to act on their values; they are not seen as unreasonable and in need of
sharp coercive control from above.

With respect to population growth, Sen presents data showing that there is still no world food
crisis. Rather, food production per head has been increasing in every world region except
Africa since 1974, and it has been increasing the most in Asia, the most populous region.
Food availability has increased despite a drop in food prices, hence a reduction of economic
incentives to produce food. Thus the population problem is not that there is an impending
lack of food (although it is often scarily framed that way). The real problem is that world
population has ballooned, causing overcrowding and environmental strains, so in many
countries fertility reduction would be desirable. This is particularly the case given the
accelerating nature of population growth: It took the world population millions of years to
reach the first billion [human beings], then 123 years to get to the second, followed by 33
years to the third, 14 years to the fourth, and 13 years to the fifth billion (Sen 1999a: 210).

But by what strategies or policies can and should population growth be slowed Sen explores
two alternatie sets o policies, both o which hae contemporary adocates. 1he irst, traced to
Malthus, relies on coercie practices o threats, sterilization, or the restriction o beneits to
multi-children amilies. 1hese policies arise rom a distrust in the power o reason and planning
among the wider population. In contrast, Condorcet anticipated a oluntary reduction in
ertility rates and predicted the emergence o new norms o small amily size based on the
progress o reason.`` ,Sen 1999a: 214,. Using comparatie studies rom states in China and
India, it is possible to explore how quickly coercie policies - which hae been used in China
and some parts o India - reduced total ertility rate, in comparison with a second stream o
strategies, which oer women`s education and empowerment, and the aailability o aordable
contracepties ,inestment in amily planning is necessary but, as Sen discusses in relation to
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Bangladesh, is insuicient without other inestments in women`s empowerment,. Sen
concludes, 1here is no imminent emergency that calls or a breathless response. \hat is called
or is systematic support or people's own decisions to reduce amily size through expanding
education and health care, and through economic and social deelopment` ,Sen 1994,.

In the issue o population, like education, the structure o the analysis is similarly multi-aceted,
tracing people`s alues and knowledge, drawing on empirical eidence, but consistently and
steadily proposing policies that hae the dual characteristics o promising instrumental success
,actual reduction o ertility, while adancing reedom and respecting people as agents.
Health
In analyses o health, considerations span the alue o health to people, the indicators o good
health, instrumental arrangements that best secure health as well as other capabilities, and the
role o people as agents in securing their own health capabilities.

Sen takes as a starting point the ubiquity o health as a social consideration` ,Sen 2002d: 659,.
lis obseration that health appears to be deeply alued by people across cultures and
generations, thus is integral to deelopment, is hardly controersial. Pointing out the empirical
connections between health and many other reedoms such as education, employment,
democratic participation, and so on, Sen argues that health capabilities are also instrumentally
powerul or promoting deelopment. A range o articles also address complex issues o health
equity - the distribution o health related capabilities across a population.



But how to establish good public health outcomes Again, in answering this question Sen
scrutinizes dierent historical paths by which communities hae achieed these expansions in
such basic health capabilities as the ability to lie long. Dreze and Sen identiied two paths: those
who hae succeeded in increasing the length and quality o lie ava enjoying economic growth
,grortbveaiatea .trategie. - e.g. South Korea and 1aiwan,, and those who hae done so without
growth ,.vorttea .trategie. such as Sri Lanka, pre-reorm China, ,Dreze and Sen 1989,. 1hey
obsere that in a low-growth situation, poor countries can still proide basic health care because
o the lower relatie costs: A poor economy may bare less money to spend on health care and
education, but it also veea. less money to spend to proide the same serices, which would cost
much more in the richer countries` ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 48,. Analyzing the reduction o
mortality in 20
th
century Britain, or example, Sen draws attention to the striking result that the
reduction o mortality and undernourishment was steepest avrivg the two \orld \ars, when
Britain adopted support-led strategies ,Dreze and Sen 2002: 50,. O course - and this is
important to note - it may be deeply preerable or nations at.o to experience economic growth,
because this would expand other capabilities that would not be nurtured under support-led
strategies. \et in the absence o such growth public health can still be promoted.

On the basis o such empirical studies, Sen adocates public inestment in health care. At the
same time, the role or positie public engagement by people seen as agents not merely
beneiciaries o public health programs, neer slips rom iew. lere the example is China.
China`s pre-reorm public health arrangements are legendary - in preentatie health, bareoot
doctors, collectie health insurance, and medical inrastructure. \et, oernight, in 199, in the
enthusiasm o liberalization, China dismantled its public health system. According to some
estimates this swit action has let seenty percent o Chinese citizens without health insurance.
Such action could not hae been undertaken in a democracy - at least not without outcry and
igorous public debate and the possibility o reinstatement. Subsequent to the reorm the pace o

7
(Sen 1999b, c, Klasen and Wink 2002, Sen 2002d, a, Williams 2003, Anand, Peter et al. 2004)
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China`s health adances has slowed, leaing its inant mortality rate o 30 per thousand, or
example, still signiicantly aboe that o the Indian state o Kerala - which is 10. Lie expectancy
gains also slowed. lrom 199 to the present, China`s lie expectancy rose rom 68 to 1 - 3
years, in the same period India`s lie expectancy rose by 10 years rom 54 to 64. Although in
China`s case democratic practices were not required to create the public health system, in the
absence o such practices the 199 reorms showed how ulnerable een the much admired
health system was to a lightening swit decline ,Sen 1999a,.

1his conclusion is unambiguously summarized in the closing sentences o a keynote address
gien to the \orld lealth Assembly in 1999: Ultimately, there is nothing as important as
inormed public discussion and the participation o the people in pressing or changes that can
protect our lies and liberties. 1he public has to see itsel not merely as a patient, but also as an
agent o change. 1he penalty o inaction and apathy can be illness and death` ,Sen 1999c,.
Hunger
Porert, ava avive. opens by obsering: 1here is no law against dying o hunger` ,Dreze and Sen
1989,. \et people`s action and protests o injustice can eectiely preent amines. Sen`s writings
politicized amine, giing rise to a new approach to the problem.
8
1he insight is oten expressed
this way: no amine has eer taken place in the history o the world in a unctioning
democracy` ,Sen 1999a: 16,.

1his body o amine studies is central to consider because it was the irst to rame hunger as a
political problem rather than lack o ood aailability or a market ailure or other natural causes.
lunger is.intolerable in the modern world in a way it could not hae been in the
past. 1his is not so much because it is more intense, but because widespread hunger
is so unnecessary and unwarranted in the modern world... I politics is the art o the
possible`, then conquering world hunger has become a political issue in a way it
could not hae been in the past ,Dreze and Sen 1989: 5-6,.
low did this politicization - in which political action was identiied as a leer or change and a
source or hope - emerge

1he argument was initially built put orward in Sen`s Porert, ava avive., later expanded into three
olumes o studies, which examined physiological, market-based, economic, weather-related, and
political aspects o amine as well as endemic hunger in dierent countries ,Sen 1981,, ,Dreze
and Sen 1990,. 1hree obserations across these studies support the politicization o amine as an
issue o structural injustice.

One key ivaeevaevce that Sen established empirically and early was the independence o amine
rom ood production and aailability. lor example, the amines in Bengal 1943, Lthiopia 193
and Bangladesh 194 all occurred in the absence o a decline in ood aailability ,Dreze and Sen
1989: 2,.

Another obseration was that amine impacted dierent sections o the population unequally:
dierent groups typically do hae ery dierent commanding powers oer ood, and an oer-all
shortage brings out the contrasting powers in stark clarity` ,Sen 1981: 43,. 1his gae urther
eidence o injustice: that some weathered the amine intact - or een with economic gain -
while others perished.

8
Sens work on famine in particular is found in (Sen 1980b); (Sen 1981); (Sen 1991). For other work see for
example (Devereux 2001); (de Waal 2004); (Drze and Sen 1989)
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A third obseration related to the easibility o a public response. laing studied successul
experiences in aoiding amine, especially in India and many Arican countries, Dreze and Sen
obsere that
1hese experiences irmly demonstrate how easy it is to exterminate amines i public
support . is well planned on a regular basis to protect the entitlements o
ulnerable groups.. It is also clear that the eradication o amines need not arait a
major breakthrough in raising the per-capita aailability o ood, or in radically
reducing its ariance ,een though these goals are important in themseles and can
be - and must be - promoted in the long run by well-organized public policy,.
Public action can decisiely eliminate amines vor ,Dreze and Sen 1989: 25-8,.
1hese obserations about the injustice o amine and the potential or human response
,howeer allible and imperect, enabled amine to be ramed as a political issue, in the
sense that action by the public at large could catalyze the necessary public and economic
actions which might not arise in the absence o public outcry.
Public Action
\hat is eident in many o the preceding analysis is not only the tremendous breadth o analysis,
but also the steady appeal to people as agents: to public deliberation and debate, to protests,
democratic practices, social moements, and other orms o participation that balance and
complete deelopment processes. 1he case or relating public policy to a close scrutiny o its
actual eects is certainly ery strong, but the need to protest - to rage, to holler - is not any
weaker` ,Sen 2001,.

Sen`s insistent ocus on people as agents - whose alues must be engaged in setting deelopment
objecties, whose energies will help to propel these objecties - has the eect o shiting the
borders o deelopment out rom a narrowly economic space to include aspects o political
engagement, which are broadly titled public action.
By public action we mean not merely the actiities o the state, but also social actions
taken by members o the public--both collaboratie` ,through ciil cooperation, and
adersarial` ,through social criticism and political opposition. 1he .reach o public
action goes well beyond the doings o the state, and inoles what is done b, the public -
not merely for the public. \e also argue that the nature and eectieness o the actiities
o the state can deteriorate ery easily in the absence o public igilance and actiism.
,Dreze and Sen 1989: ii,
1hus the reach o public action permeates well beyond participation in ormal political
procedures. It gestures to participation within amilies, community groups, inormal
organisations, press and the media, and other ora.


Sen`s account o the substantie alue o political reedom and democratic practice demonstrates
the prominence gien to public action. 1hose who are skeptical o political reedom oten ask
\hy bother about the inesse o political reedoms gien the oerpowering grossness o intense
economic needs` ,Sen 1999a: 14,. 1he iew that economic deelopment should precede the
procuring o political liberties and ciil rights or the poor is a common thesis that Sen challenges
both at the indiidual and at the collectie leel. As we hae seen, Sen deends the direct alue o
human agency and thus o social and political arrangements that support its exercise. \hile
people`s actual iews on democratic practice may be diicult to test in repressie situations,
eidence such as the protest against Indira Gandhi`s 190s emergency` as well as the struggle
or democratic reedoms in South Korea, 1hailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma ,or Myanmar,
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and elsewhere in Asia` ,Sen 1999a: 151, suggest a alue or it, een among the poor. lurther,
scrutiny o the eidence does not support the iew that authoritarianism is a more eicient
midwie o economic growth and prosperity than democratic practice. 1he eidence is
ambiguous and aried, with no consistent results either o conlict or o synergy between the
economic output and the political system ,Sen 1999a: 122,. Gien this situation Sen adocates
that both economic and political reedoms be pursued simultaneously.

I will not try to summarize the existing chapter, but will close with one obseration on public
action which applies also to the other topics that hae been discussed. A number o authors hae
obsered that Sen`s account o agency, though inspiring, is incomplete. lor example, it deines
agency such that it relates to people`s alues and the common good, but in so doing excludes by
deinition actions that undermine the common good or personal or group gain, or express
prejudice or exact engeance, so is an important but incomplete account o human action.
9
1his
obseration contains the crux o many engagements with Sen`s writings in the subsequent
literature: loweer incomplete Sen`s interentions hae been, across many crucial areas o
deelopment theory, they identiy directions o enquiry that are considerably less misconceied
than existing theories, and suggest how concrete policies, practices, analyses, and measures might
aim more accurately and realistically at justice and human reedoms.
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