Amartya Sen Gets Ecnomics Nobel

Renowned economist Amartya Sen has won the 1998 Nobel prize for economics for his work on the causes of famine and other branches of welfare economics, becoming the sixth Indian to win a Nobel.

In its citation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, "In empirical studies, Sen's applications of his theoretical approach have enhanced our understanding of the economics mechanisms underlying famines."

Sen, who became the Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, England, this January, said: "I am particularly pleased about their identification of the field of work as a justification for the award. Welfare economics and social choice are very important fields of study in which many people have done excellent work. I am happy that the subject has received the recognition it deserves."

 

President K R Narayanan, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and finance minister Yashwant Sinha joined the nation in hailing the award. International economists too reacted warmly , with Anthony Giddins, director of the London School of Economics, saying, "no figure in economics today could be more deserving."

Professor Ajit Singh, senior fellow at Queen's College, Cambridge, and a colleague of Sen since 1964 said: "It was thoroughly well-deserved and long overdue. He has made brilliant contributions to economic theory as well as towards addressing the practical problems of poverty and famine in developing countries."

Sen is highly respected for his work, which has ranged from the theory of social choice to studies of famine. It is linked by an interest in how resources are distributed, with a focus on the poorest members of society.

"Professor Sen's work has ranged well beyond economics and his studies on welfare, rights and inequality have influenced social scientists in many disciplines," Giddens said.

Adds Professor Meghnad Desai of London School of Economics: "His work has spanned social choice, economic development, famine and poverty. He has combined humane philosophy and rigorous economics with the aim of bettering the lot of the people. It is a well-deserved prize."

The prize is awarded each year by Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, and known officially as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Sen, born in 1933 in West Bengal, was the professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University from 1998 until this January. In the late 1960s, he taught at the Delhi School of Economics, and from 1971-77, at the London School of Economics.

Earlier this year, in a move which broke with tradition, Sen was the surprise choice at Trinity, the richest and most prestigious college in Cambridge, beating among others, Britain's former foreign secretary Douglas Hurd.

Sen, who has been described as "both an insider and an outsider" at Trinity did his degree and a PhD at the college.

Sir Alec Broers, the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said: "We are delighted. Professor Sen's work has contributed a tremendous amount to society as well as to economic theory, a subject of great importance to the world. His Nobel prize adds to the lustre and breadth of the study of economics at the University of Cambridge."

In his 1981 book "Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation", Sen challenged the view that a shortage of food is the main, or only, explanation for famine.