SEN A 'CONSCIENCE KEEPER' OF WORLD OF ECONOMICS

The Indian Express
Thursday, October 15, 1998

CALCUTTA - Professor Amartya Sen, who became the first Asian to win the Nobel prize for economics today, has won acclaim as "conscience keeper" of the world of economics by probing into ethical and philosophical questions relating to inequality and causes of poverty and famine. Sixty four-year-old Sen, who became a professor at the Jadhavpur University at just 24, was a strong votary of social development and felt market reforms had no meaning without it, reports PTI.

Sen was candid about India's economic reforms and felt that despite overall economic growth, there was evidence that economic expansion was not reaching the least fortunate in the society. Educated at Presidency College in Calcutta, Sen went to Trinity College, Cambridge where he acquired his bachelors and masters degrees and doctorate. During his stint at Trinity, he won the prestigious Adam Smith Prize, Wrenbury Scholarship and Stevenson Prize. He later went onto to become master of Trinity College, a prestigious post. A versatile economist, Sen's prolific writings ranged from choice of technique, poverty, famine and inequality. Analysing causes of famine and starvation, Sen demonstrated that traditional analysis focussing on food supply is "theoretically defective, empirically inept and dangerously misleading" in terms of policy.