Development as Freedom

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Summary: 19th Century Visionary
Review: The ideas here are not original and the thinking is sloppy. The writing rambles. This is welfare statism couched in familiar words with Orwellian definitions. A great disappointment.

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Summary: Confused prescriptions based on "tired" liberal ideas
Review: The worst problem with the book is its simplistic generalizations. Sen's work, a repackaging of Marxist ideas modified for our post-Marxian times, has always advocated more state control and now, when such prescriptions have been shown to be counter-productive (they led to India losing half a century), he has made a strategic shift to the anarchian position. The idea being that the resulting disorder will ultimately strengthen Marxist ideas.

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Summary: When moral philosophy and economics mix
Review: There are few riddles more entrenched in the economist's mind than that of how economies prosper. Economists have been baffled by the miracle of economic growth and have offered various hypotheses to account for its existence: the expansion of markets, the enforcement of property rights, strong governments that invest wisely, Protestant ethics, Asian values, international trade, technological growth, people's savings, and so on.

While theories abound, the economic profession, smitten by the desire to quantify, has often been too narrow in its approach to development. Discussing what motivates economic growth usually entails the use of elaborate equations and complex graphs. "Development as Freedom" is a both welcoming exception to that rule, and a direct challenge to it.

The thesis that Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, puts forward is that freedom is and should be both the means and the ends of development. The former (that freedom promotes development) flies in the face of conventional wisdom that prioritizes economic growth over political enfranchisement. Yet Mr. Sen defends with eloquence, both theoretical and empirical.

As for the latter, Mr. Sen offers an alternative to the "growth per capita" approach to economic development. Development, Mr. Sen contends, should be a process by which people can live the lives they have reason to value. This thesis can be traced back to the writings of the classical economists, and more recently to Frederick Hayek and Peter Bauer. But one would be hard pressed to find policy makers today speaking in terms of enhancing people's freedoms rather than merely increasing their incomes.

In the end, "Development as Freedom" is probably the most ambitious work on development economics in last quarter century. It shares with other classics an attempt to encompass the various processes of economic development under one theme-in this case, freedom. Yet, what is remarkable is not how much Mr. Sen has brought in under the umbrella of freedom, but how little he has left out.

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Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is in reality an argument against relying solely on the market to produce the best outcomes. In the fifties Keynsian thought was triumphant and it was thought that an unrestrained market system would lead to problems. As a result governments had to intervene to ensure demand management and to also deal with problems of structural inequality. In more recent times such an approach has been rejected and any interference with the market is seen as likely to lead to poor outcomes.

Sen suggests that there are a number of reasons for not abdicating completely to the market although acknowledging its importance as the most efficient way of determining the overall use of resources. Sen is an economist who has been concerned with Developing countries for many years. One of his specialities is the phenomena of famines, why they occur and how to prevent them.

This book is really a collection of essays that have a common theme. Sen argues strongly that the provision of certain services in developing nations not just as a means of achieving equity but of achieving development.

The first issue that he canvasses is the importance of democracy. He says that no democratic country has ever had a famine. Even in a country as poor as India it has been possible for governments to prevent famines. To explain the way famines are prevented Sen explains in some detail how they are caused. In 1943 British India suffered a famine in which 3 million people starved to death in Bengal. Oddly enough this was not brought about by a fall in the availability of food but rather by a fall in wages for some groups which led them to not being able to buy food. Sen explains that very modest employment programs have been used by successive Indian governments to prevent this happening again.

Sen then goes on to argue for the importance of the provision of medical services and education in providing freedom and the potential for development. To illustrate this he discusses the death rates and the death rates by sex in various Indian states. The difference between progressive Kerala and Rajastan are instructive.

The book is easy to read and is very interesting .

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Summary: A.K. Sen is a genius, some of his critics are not
Review: This is an excellent book that should put to rest the idea that coercion is somehow more effective than free choice. Looking at the Chinese and Indian cases of over-population, Sen convincingly argues that education is more effective than naked threat to curb population growth. Moreover, an educated population is more likely to provide stimulus to an economy than one that is not.

His capabilities approach to equality is perhaps the most helpful of all the current egalitarian approaches. What it provides is a helpful way to thematize the various dimensions in which one might be unequal. There's still a lot to be done in clarifying this type of approach, but that's true of many theoretical innovations which are nonethless fruitful in their sometime lack of clarity. Josh Cohen's review article on Sen's Inequality Re-examined provides excellent criticisms of Sen's approach. Regardless, following Adam Smith (surely one of the most selectively read authors by economists and philosophers), the ability to enter public spaces with out shame is surely a crucial feature of equality. Consider the plight of many women in third world nations. It seems obvious that this is in fact a crucial "positive" freedom. ...

Rating:
Summary: A deep and compassionate book by a wise man
Review: When learning economics at university I had "Economics" by Samuelson as a handbook. I learned a lot from it and I still consider it as perhaps the best available introduction into classical economics. On its own ground, this book can hardly be surpassed. But, as many others, I have come to the conclusion that the classical paradigm of economics, which this book reflects, has serious shortcomings. Samuelson fleetingly points out some of them, but he does not pay much attention to this aspect.

Of course, there exists an abundant literature by less orthodox economists in which these questions are discussed at length. Unfortunately, much of this literature is rather unbalanced.

Recently I discovered "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen. Finally I found a book that offers a balanced philosophical reflexion on the premises of classical economics and its relevance for the development problem.

Mr. Sen asks questions rarely asked by economist. What purpose does the acquisition of wealth serve? Mr. Sen argues that dire poverty makes people unfree. Wealth is a means to freedom. From that perspective he draws very interesting conclusions concerning development policy.

Classical economics can be a useful tool in understanding society. Samuelson's book is an excellent introduction into this discipline. But in order to put the classical paradigm in perspective, you should also read "Development as Freedom" by Mr. Sen. It is a deep and compassionate book by a wise man.