The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen

Renee Prendergast

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2005, vol. 29, issue 6, 1145-1170

Abstract: Following a brief review of the conception of freedom as employed in economic discourse, this paper focuses on the evolution of the concept of freedom in the work of Amartya Sen. It traces the development of Sen's thought from the capability analysis of the late 1970s to his more recent separation of freedom into its opportunity and process aspects. While broadly appreciative of Sen's development of the concept of positive freedom, the paper identifies some difficulties arising from his definition of capability as a set of options as well as from his separation of the opportunity and process aspects of freedom. Aspects of the relationship between Sen's conception of freedom and that of Marx are discussed briefly in the context of Sen's recent discussion of the market as a source of freedom. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2005
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