In Good Company: About Agency and Economic Development in Global Perspective

Jan Luiten van Zanden

No 23/2011, Working Papers from Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The paper discusses some evidence, based on a review of new literature on economic history, about what is referred to as the Sen-hypothesis, that increasing human agency (of both men and women) is a key factor in economic development. It briefly discusses various dimensions of agency (or its absence): slavery (as the absolute suppression of human agency), access to markets, agency concerning marriage, and political participation. This concept perhaps also allows economic historians to move beyond the historical determinism that is central to much recent work in this field.

Keywords: agency; economic development; economic history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N00 O10 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-hpe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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