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Amartya Sen on economic inequality: the need for an explicit critique of opulence
Author(s) -
Cameron John
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/1099-1328(200010)12:7<1031::aid-jid725>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - inequality , distancing , positive economics , mainstream , capability approach , sociology , income distribution , economic inequality , theme (computing) , mainstream economics , economics , neoclassical economics , epistemology , social science , economic growth , political science , law , applied economics , philosophy , mathematics , computer science , mathematical analysis , medicine , disease , covid-19 , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , operating system
Amartya Sen has sought to maintain a dialogue with mainstream economics on inequality—a continuing theme in his writing. This paper suggests this dialogue has involved costs. The first and second sections outline where Sen has located himself in the epistemological range that defines acceptable knowledge in the general economics discourse and takes Sen's epistemological principles into the analysis of economic inequality. The third section links Sen's work on causes of famine with his work on inequality and shows how this has given a particular slant to the development of capabilities theory with a focus on the lower end of the inter‐personal inequality distribution. The fourth section focuses on the need also for development ethics at the top end of the inequality distribution and economic opulence. The conclusion makes the case for further critical reflection on the top end of the inter‐personal distribution and opulence as vital elements in the capabilities approach to improving the human condition, even if this means a greater distancing from mainstream economics than Amartya Sen has found acceptable in the past. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.