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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

By
Muriel Gilardone
Edited by
Roger E. Backhouse ,
Antoinette Baujard  and
Tamotsu Nishizawa
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 Senagencypublic actionfaminesgender inequalitieshuman developmentperception biasdemocracypublic reasoningnon-welfarism
Type
Chapter
Information
Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values
Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics
 , pp. 298 - 319
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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