Arguments for a Better World: Essays in Honor of Amartya Sen: Volume I: Ethics, Welfare, and Measurement

Amartya Sen has made deep and lasting contributions to the academic disciplines of economics, philosophy, and the social sciences more broadly. He has engaged in policy dialogue and public debate, advancing the cause of a human development focused policy agenda, and a tolerant and democratic polity. This argumentative Indian has made the case for the poorest of the poor, and for plurality in cultural perspective. It is not surprising that he has won the highest awards, ranging from the Nobel Prize in Economics to the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. This public recognition has gone hand in hand with the affection and admiration that Amartya's friends and students hold for him. This volume of essays, written in honor of his 75th birthday by his students and peers, covers the range of contributions that Sen has made to knowledge. They are written by some of the world's leading economists, philosophers and social scientists, and address topics such as ethics, welfare economics, poverty, gender, human development, society and politics. This first volume covers the topics of Ethics, Normative Economics and Welfare; Agency, Aggregation and Social Choice; Poverty, Capabilities and Measurement; and Identity, Collective Action and Public Economics. It is a fitting tribute to Sen's own contributions to the discourse on Ethics, Welfare and Measurement. Contributors include: Sabina Alkire, Paul Anand, Sudhir Anand, Kwame Anthony Appiah, A. B. Atkinson, Walter Bossert, Francois Bourguignon, John Broome, Satya R. Chakravarty, Rajat Deb, Bhaskar Dutta, James E. Foster, Wulf Gaertner, Indranil K. Ghosh, Peter Hammond, Christopher Handy, Christopher Harris, Satish K. Jain, Isaac Levi, Oliver Linton, S. R. Osmani, Prasanta K. Pattanaik, Edmund S. Phelps, Mozaffar Qizilbash, Martin Ravallion, Kevin Roberts, Ingrid Robeyns, Maurice Salles, Cristina Santos, T. M. Scanlon, Arjun Sengupta, Tae Kun Seo, Anthony Shorrocks , Ron Smith, Joseph E. Stiglitz, S. Subramanian, Kotaro Suzumura, Alain Trannoy, Guanghua Wan, John A. Weymark, and Yongsheng Xu. Contributors to this volume - Sabina Alkire, University of Oxford Paul Anand, Open University Sudhir Anand, University of Oxford Kwame Anthony Appiah, Princeton University A. B. Atkinson, University of Oxford Walter Bossert, Universite de Montreal Francois Bourguignon, Paris School of Economics John Broome, University of Oxford Satya R. Chakravarty, Indian Statistical Institute Rajat Deb, Southern Methodist University Bhaskar Dutta, The University of Warwick James E. Foster, Vanderbilt University Wulf Gaertner, University of Osnabruck Indranil K. Ghosh, Winston Salem State University Peter Hammond, The University of Warwick Christopher Handy, Cornell University Christopher Harris, University of Cambridge Satish K. Jain, Jawaharlal Nehru University Isaac Levi, Columbia University Oliver Linton, London School of Economics and Political Science Siddiqur R. Osmani, University of Ulster Prasanta K. Pattanaik, University of California, Riverside Edmund S. Phelps, Columbia University Mozaffar Qizilbash, University of York Martin Ravallion, World Bank Kevin Roberts, University of Oxford Ingrid Robeyns, Radboud University Nijmegen Maurice Salles, Universite de Caen Cristina Santos, University College London Thomas. M. Scanlon, Harvard University Arjun Sengupta, Indian Parliament Tae Kun Seo, Southern Methodist University Anthony Shorrocks, UNU-WIDER Ronald Smith, Birkbeck College Joseph E. Stiglitz, Columbia University S. Subramanian, Madras Institute of Development Studies Kotaro Suzumura, Hitotsubashi University Alain Trannoy, L'Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales Guanghua Wan, UNU-WIDER John A. Weymark, Vanderbilt University Yongsheng Xu, Georgetown State University