Amartya
Sen

Emeritus Board Member

Bio

Amartya Sen is a world-renowned economist, scholar, philosopher and author. He has done groundbreaking research in a number of areas, including social choice theory, political and moral philosophy and decision theory. Awarded the “Bharat Ratna,” the highest honor given by the president of India, Sen’s work in economics has also been recognized with a Nobel Prize. He has been president of the American Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association, the International Economic Association and the Econometric Society.

Sen is Lamont University Professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University. Until recently, he was master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Earlier, he was the Drummond professor of political economy at Oxford University and a fellow of All Souls College. Prior to that, he was professor of economics at Delhi University and at the London School of Economics.

Sen has researched and written books in a number of wide-ranging fields, including economics, philosophy, decision theory and social choice theory. His work has covered welfare economics, theory of measurement, development economics, moral and political philosophy and the economics of peace and war. Sen’s books, which have been translated into many languages, include The Argumentative Indian; Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny; Rationality and Freedom; Collective Choice and Social Welfare; On Economic Inequality; Poverty and Famines; Choice, Welfare and Measurement; Resources, Values and Development; On Ethics and Economics; The Standard of Living; Inequality Reexamined; Development as Freedom; and The Idea of Justice.

Born in Santiniketan, India in 1933, Sen studied at Presidency College in Calcutta, India and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is an Indian citizen.

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