Connecting economic and political development

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	• Development as Freedom Amartya Sen Anchor, 2000 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 49 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Freedom as a better goal than GDP

Freedom as a better goal than GDP.

This book describes new concepts and presents important, controversial, conclusions. The concepts are relevant for developed and developing countries. The foundation is Sen's view of well-being formulated as follows: "We all want the capability to live long (without being cut off in our prime) have a good life (rather than a life of misery and unfreedom)" and "We would all like to lead a kind of life that we have reason to value". To achieve that goal requires the removal of unfreedoms like poverty, lack of ability to be accepted for a job, lack of economic opportunities, health problems, discrimination, repression and arbitrary justice.
Freedom is an end in itself a means to be able to lead a satisfactory life. Individual freedom is also a condition for being able to act responsibly. Without opportunities because of a lack of capability, no responsibility. Increasing freedom as a goal is more complete than increasing the GDP per person. People have good reason to want income and wealth precisely because it "produces" freedom. GDP/person and freedom are related. When people can act responsibly because they have capabilities and can a find job, the GDP will increase automatically. .
The book is very rich in "surprising" conclusions all convincingly documented and presented. Only a few will be referred to here.
(1) An important cause of poverty in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia is explosive population growth. If women have the freedom to decide the number of children to have the explosive population growth stops. There is no justification for using violent means to reduce family size. (2) All poor countries can afford basic healthcare and basic education as these are labour intensive and therefore low cost. (3) The opinion that democracy with free speech and elections is not suitable for Asians because of different Asian values has no factual basis.
(4) One of the fundamental freedoms people cherish is to buy what they want from whom they want and sell what they can to whom the want, that is the"free market". The idea that the free market can be left alone and will function perfectly as it is based on self-interest and greed is false. It requires effective legal structures that support the rights ensuing from contracts, that people can trust each and behave decently. Sen warns on the danger of "high minded sentimentality, assuming that all people are peculiarly virtuous and keen to be just" or the equally unrealistic "Low-minded sentimentality, which some economists appear to prefer, that we are only influenced by crude consideration of personal advantage". The free market" to function requires freedom, regulations and ethical values beyond greed and self-interest.
The book is brilliant but requires effort to read. Read at least chapter 1 The perspective on freedom, 6 The importance of democracy, 9 Population, food and freedom, 10 Culture and human rights and 11 Social choice and individual behaviour (100 pages).

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a wonderful work

This is a must read for all people, the work is not just on economics but how we live our lives. One of the top economists in the world, shows how there is more to economics then just markets. Freedom is more then just free speech, and is critical in human development.

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Connecting economic and political development

What is economic development? This book argues that economic development is the expansion of human choice; i.e. freedom and capability to do what we want. The emphasis of this books is the duality: freedom and capability. Hence a society can give freedom to its citizens, but if they are not equipped with the mental and/or physical capabilities to use these freedoms, then the freedoms can be meaningless. Therefore, investing in education, providing health care, equal rights and other social programs that improve the capabilities of individuals are often as important to economic progress as building roads, airports and starting up businesses.

The Indian, Nobel-prize winning author of this book backs up this argument with empirical evidence from multiple countries and time periods across the world, with special emphasis on China, India, and other locales in Asia that one might not normally consider as textbook examples of economic development. By comparing specific actions taken by specific governments, the author shows how personal development, in terms of increasing literacy, providing family planning services, and spreading basic health care are often the prerequisite for economic development for a society as a whole. The book backs this up with examples of Japan, Korea, and the US itself; three countries where industrialization and economic growth came after social reform, the spread of basic education, and equalization of rights between genders.

Overall this is a great book. It connects economic policy to human actions, and shows how government policies connect the two. Great reading and highly recommended for all those interested in the social sciences.

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