About

Amartya Sen is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University. He served as the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge until 2004 and is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. His academic career includes professorships at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics, the London School of Economics, and he held the position of Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Economics
• Political Science
• Positive economics
• Social Science
• Public economics
• Neoclassical economics
• Law and economics
• Macroeconomics
• Law
• Mathematical economics

Selected publications

• Phenolic contents of some disease-resistant raisins (<i>Vitis</i> spp.)

  Acta Horticulturae · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  The evaluation of different fruit species and grapes by drying gains importance especially because of its high nutrient content and long-term preservation. In addition, due to increasing consumer and environmental awareness, consumers have more demand for raisins produced by using minimum chemical pesticides throughout the production process. In addition, due to the increasing importance of phenolic compounds for human health, the demand for high phenolic content cultivars and their products is increasing. In this study, 7 different grape cultivars (‘Mars Seedless’, ‘Campbell Early’, ‘Muscat Bleu’, ‘Kay Gray’, ‘Philipp’, ‘Kishmish Vatkana’, ‘Rhea’) which are tolerant or resistant to fungal diseases and grown with a reduced spraying program were studied. Grapes were obtained from the trial vineyard of Yalova Atatürk Horticulture Central Research Institute (Yalova, Turkey). After these cultivars were dried in an energy-saving heat pump dryer, the important phenolic compound contents were determined by HPLC method and the differences between the cultivars were revealed. As a result, the phenolic compounds of the raisins obtained by drying these grape cultivars, which can be grown in humid regions, in an energy-saving heat pump dryer were determined and the correlations between these compounds were determined. Thus, it has been determined in this study that raisins are an important source of polyphenols and that there may be significant differences between species or cultivars.<br>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Obligations and Economic and Social Rights

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2023-07-18

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This entry provides a shortened restatement of Amartya Sen’s influential presentation of a theory of human rights. Professor Sen’s arguments about human freedom, which includes human capabilities, has enormous resonance for understanding the importance, scope, and pathways for implementation, of economic and social rights. In this entry, Professor Sen argues that human rights are best understood as pronouncements in social ethics, sustainable by open public reasoning. He draws on historical examples to show that rights are often reflected in, or designed for, a legal framework. And yet such examples also indicate the importance of human rights outside of that framework. The public recognition, agitation, and monitoring of these ethical demands help sustain their obligatory character. Professor Sen also draws out the distinction between the perfect and imperfect obligations that correspond to human rights. Understanding the role of imperfect obligations is particularly important for understanding the realization of economic and social rights. Where imperfect, such obligations ground a firm duty to reasonably consider undertaking actions which can defend or promote the relevant freedom, both in process and opportunity terms. As Professor Sen claims, obligations place implicit and explicit pressure on all who are in a plausible position to prevent the violation of economic and social rights.

  PublisherDOI

• Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis

  2022-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Marx après Kornai

  Revue de la régulation · 2022-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  János Kornai a décidé de devenir économiste après avoir lu Das Kapital de Karl Marx. Sa relation avec cet auteur n’était pas seulement politique, mais aussi professionnelle. Kornai avait certes « rompu avec le marxisme » en 1956, mais sans pour autant rompre avec la pensée de Marx. Après 1956, ses travaux peuvent être examinés à la lumière des idées marxiennes, traitant notamment de l’équité, de la liberté et de la relation entre théorie et pratique. Certaines des thèses marxiennes pourraient ainsi être enrichies de façon intéressante par une prise en compte des écrits ultérieurs de Kornai.

  PublisherDOI

• Anmerkungen

  2022-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Law and Ideas of Justice

  New American Studies Journal · 2022-12-22

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The social contract approach concentrates on identifying perfectly just social arrangements, taking the characterization of "just institutions," along with compliant human behaviour, to be the principal - and often the only identified - task of the theory of justice. Rather than following the contractarian tradition of beginning the exercise by asking what is perfect justice, or what principles should govern the choice of perfectly just institutions for the society, Amartya Sen here argues for asking about the identification of clear cases of injustice on which agreement could emerge on the basis of public reasoning (even in the absence of an agreement on the nature of "perfect justice"). In arguing, for example, for the abolition of slavery, as the Marquis the Condorcet, Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft all did, they did not have to seek an agreement on the nature of the perfectly just society, or the characteristics of ideally just social institutions. That is, agreement can be reached on the manifest injustice of particular institutions and behaviour patterns even without having the same view of an ideally just society, or of perfectly just institutions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Marx Kornai után

  Közgazdasági Szemle · 2021-01-10

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Kornai János Marx A tőke című művének elolvasása után döntött úgy, hogy a közgazdászpályát választja. Kornai viszonya Marxhoz nemcsak politikai jellegű, hanem&#13;\nszakmai is. 1956-ban „szakított a marxizmussal”, de ezzel nem szűnt meg kapcsolódása Marx gondolataihoz. Kornai 1956 utáni munkái vizsgálhatók Marx gondolatainak fényében, különösen, ha az egyenlőséget, a szabadságot, valamint az elmélet&#13;\nés a gyakorlat összefüggését vesszük. A marxi tételek közül néhány érdekfeszítően&#13;\ngazdagítható, ha figyelembe vesszük Kornai későbbi írásait.*&#13;\nJournal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: B24, B51, I3, P2.

  PublisherDOI

• Marx Kornai után [Marx after Kornai]

  2021-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Kornai Janos Marx A tőke cimű művenek elolvasasa utan dontott ugy, hogy a kozgazdaszpalyat valasztja. Kornai viszonya Marxhoz nemcsak politikai jellegű, hanem szakmai is. 1956-ban szakitott a marxizmussal, de ezzel nem szűnt meg kapcsolodasa Marx gondolataihoz. Kornai 1956 utani munkai vizsgalhatok Marx gondolatainak fenyeben, kulonosen, ha az egyenlőseget, a szabadsagot, valamint az elmelet es a gyakorlat osszefuggeset vesszuk. A marxi tetelek kozul nehany erdekfeszitően gazdagithato, ha figyelembe vesszuk Kornai kesőbbi irasait.* Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kod: B24, B51, I3, P2.

  Publisher

• Single Parameter Full Waveform Inversion in Poroelastic Media using Damped-Inertia-Coefficient PSO

  2021-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Summary Estimation of reservoir rock properties from seismic data is the biggest challenge for hydrocarbon industries. Acoustic and elastic FWI have been successful to obtain high resolution subsurface velocity and density models, but are unable to estimate porosity, permeability and fluid saturation for reservoir characterization. Since FWI uses local optimization strategies mostly, it suffers from cycle skipping and often converges to a local minima, thereby, estimating model parameters inaccurately. Here, we have presented a case of poroelastic FWI for plane-layered fluid-filled poroelastic media to estimate porosity from synthetic seismic data. We have used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to prevent cycle skipping and ensure accurate inversion. In order to improve the accuracy and lessen the computation cost of the inversion algorithm, we have modified PSO introducing a damping factor in the Inertia Coefficient. We have further discussed the inverted results and the feasibility of the inversion algorithm for estimation of petrophysical properties of reservoir rocks.

  PublisherDOI

• Asian identities

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2021-12-23

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  It is marvellous that we are gathered here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this wonderful organization, ESCAP, which is such a pre-eminent part of the United Nations system. I am also delighted to see that the rich history of ESCAP is being put together in a report that the Executive Secretary has appropriately commissioned (and which is already available in a pre-publication form), called ‘The First Parliament of Asia’, an apt name for an interactive process in Asia in which ESCAP has played such a leading role over the last six decades. I am very fortunate to be here and to be able to join in these anniversary celebrations.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• EEG Analysis of Epileptic Patients and Animal Seizure Models

  NSF · $100k · 2007–2009

Frequent coauthors

• Jean Drèze

  Ranchi University

  31 shared

• P. D. Mininni

  Fundación Ciencias Exactas y Naturales

  24 shared

• Joseph E. Stiglitz

  18 shared

• Kenneth J. Arrow

  17 shared

• Ronald C. Davidson

  16 shared

• George L. Johnston

  16 shared

• R. Aschaffenburg

  University of Oxford

  12 shared

• M.P. Thompson

  Michigan State University

  11 shared

Education

• B.A., Economics

  Trinity College, Cambridge

  1959

• M.A., Economics

  Trinity College, Cambridge

  1961

• Ph.D., Economics

  Magdalen College, Oxford

  1963

Awards & honors

• Bharat Ratna
• National Humanities Medal (USA)
• Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (France)
• Ordem do Mérito Científico (Brazil)
• Aztec Eagle (Mexico)