“My Well-being is (Not) as Important as Yours”: Self-sacrifice as Further Economic Motive in Amartya Sen's Thought

Valentina Erasmo

A chapter in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Selection of Papers Presented at the First History of Economics Diversity Caucus Conference, 2023, vol. 41B, pp 67-81 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: This paper shows that Amartya Sen admitted self-sacrifice as an opposite motive to self-interest. Between the eighties and the nineties, in his works on development economics, Sen often referred to the conditions of women in less developed countries, because these are areas where gender inequality is more pronounced, and women’s well-being is worsened by behavior motivated by self-sacrifice. But these women were affected by a perception bias that made them unable to understand their deprived condition. Perception bias made it harder to improve their freedom and reduce inequality. Sen offered a more complex analysis of economic behavior as compared to his contemporaries. Selfishness and public discussion might be identified as the ideal methods of improving individual well-being when inequality and perception bias leads people to self-sacrifice.

Keywords: Gender inequality; perception bias; self-interest; self-sacrifice; well-being; women (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542023000041b004

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542023000041B004

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