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 It is easy to think that all economists believe the free market solves every problem and that government assistance is a detriment to distributive justice. Nobel Prize winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen argues otherwise. His groundbreaking work on famine, human capabilities, gender equality, and justice are found at the core of "development economics." In this episode of Why?, Sen will discuss all these issues and their connection to philosophy. How are human capabilities related to democracy? Why is famine a political problem rather than simply one of food supply? How does all of this stem from a misunderstanding of Adam Smith and the connections between morality and commercial structures? Join Amartya Sen for an exciting and timely discussion about justice and the economic structures that help bring it to everyone in the world.

Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 for his work on welfare economics. His autobiographical statement can be found here. He is Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.  He has served as President of the Econometric Society, the Indian Economic Association, the American Economic Association and the International Economic Association. Amartya books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and include Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970), On Economic Inequality (1973, 1997), Poverty and Famines (1981), Choice, Welfare and Measurement (1982), Resources, Values and Development (1984), On Ethics and Economics (1987), The Standard of Living (1987), Inequality Reexamined (1992), Development as Freedom (1999), and Rationality and Freedom (2002), The Argumentative Indian (2005), and Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006), among others. In addition to being a Nobel Laureate, Amartya has been awarded the “Bharat Ratna” (the highest honour awarded by the President of India); the Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize in Ethics; the Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Award; the Edinburgh Medal; the Brazilian Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Grã-Cruz); the Presidency of the Italian Republic Medal; the Eisenhower Medal; Honorary Companion of Honour (U.K.); and The George C. Marshall Award.

Why's host Jack Russell Weinstein explains, "to have Amartya Sen on this program is a dream come true. Not only because he is such a renown figure but because the work he has done is so important for so many people. Few people marry the theoretical life of philosophy with the practical consequences of real-world economic analysis as well as he does. Furthermore, as an Adam Smith scholar myself, I am ecstatic at the idea of talking with someone who has such a holistic view of the connections between morality and economic justice."