The Contributions of Professor Amartya Sen in the Field of Human Rights

60 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2008

See all articles by Polly Vizard

Polly Vizard

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Date Written: January 2005

Abstract

This paper analyses the work of the Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Amartya Sen from the perspective of human rights. It assesses the ways in which Sen's research agenda has deepened and expanded human rights discourse in the disciplines of ethics and economics, and examines how his work has promoted cross-fertilisation and integration on this subject across traditional disciplinary divides. The paper suggests that Sen's development of a 'scholarly bridge' between human rights and economics is an important and innovative contribution that has methodological as well as substantive importance and that provides a prototype and stimuli for future research. It also establishes that the idea of fundamental freedoms and human rights is itself an important gateway into understanding the nature, scope and significance of Sen's research. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of the challenges to be addressed in taking Sen's contributions in the field of human rights forward.

JEL Classification: A12, A13, B31, D63, I39, K39

Suggested Citation

Vizard, Polly, The Contributions of Professor Amartya Sen in the Field of Human Rights (January 2005). LSE STICERD Research Paper No. CASE091, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1159322

Polly Vizard (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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