Talk:Amartya Sen

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Contents 1 Indian-American ? 2 Public choice theory 3 Capability approach 4 Indian? 5 Irish famine 6 Sen paradox or Liberal paradox 7 Awards sections shifted below 8 Illogical introduction? 9 Perception of Sen among Many Indians 10 Dr. Sen is an atheist 11 Pronounciation? 12 WikiProject class rating 13 Criticism 14 Oster & controversy

[edit] Indian-American ?

He is listed under "Indian-Americans." I don't believe he is an American citizen.

[edit] Public choice theory

This page, combined with Public choice theory do not do much to explain what public choice theory is, why Sen would be opposed to it, or what Sen advocates instead. If we're going to mention public choice theory at all, these would all be nice things to clarify. --Ryguasu 21:54 Feb 1, 2003 (UTC)

Why is this page the place to describe public choice theory? It's linked to the public choice theory article and that should seem sufficient since it is merely a quotation and not a full examination by Sen on rational choice theory. If the public choice theory article is insufficient then that's an issue for that article. However, I concede that since these are only quotations and not his academic position in full then maybe they should be shifted to Wikiquote.

[edit] Capability approach

somebody should add the Human Development Capability Association that Sen has recently founded. http://www.hd-ca.org/ --mhuben

[edit] Indian?

The first paragraph doesn't make a mention of his being an Indian economist. Is there a reason? -- Sundar 08:32, Jan 19, 2005 (UTC)

He is of Indian descend. But is he a citizen of India? --DuKot 18:40, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

Dr. Sen is an Indian because till today he holds on to Indian passport only.

I disagree that Poverty and Famines is Sen's "best-known" work--I might go with "most influential". It was an academic monograph that propelled his rise within academia primarily. His recent Development as Freedom was a popular best-seller around the world, accessible to the lay public, released around the time he received his Nobel Prize, and has to qualify as the "best-known" (and it is far more recent as well). -Joel

[edit] Irish famine

article said :(Sen counts the Irish Potato Famine in 1846 as an instance of alien rule, even though the UK was independent and democratic at the time.)

It's quite straight forward that Ireland was not independent (and hence not democratic) at the time so I'll delete it. Mavros 17:17, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sen paradox or Liberal paradox

IMHO Sen paradox also known as Liberal paradox should be mentioned

--Y2y 12:00, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Awards sections shifted below

The Awards section came immediately after the introduction. I have shifted it to just above the Quotes section. I hope it makes better sense and is more in tune with other Wiki articles. Priyatu 02:37, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Illogical introduction?

A sentence from the first paragraph reads, "Sen has produced work on gender inequality, exemplified by his general use of female pronouns when referring to an abstract person."

Not quite logical. "Sen has produced work on gender inequality," but is "his general use of female pronouns when referring to an abstract person" an example of his "work on gender inequality"? If so, it is a different sort of "work." Using female pronouns is not research; it is a stylistic choice emblematic of his recognition of a global problem.

---

Please don't complain so, if you feel you can write a much better introduction (one that is "logical"), go ahead.

[edit] Perception of Sen among Many Indians

I think the following text (supported only by Kshatriyaaz) should be properly sourced and reworded or deleted. See WP:NEU, WP:RS

Sen has been critiqued for taking up pro-Islamist and anti-Hindu positions on account of his left of center political beliefs. Sen's non-economic works are percieved by many Indians as shallow and reflective of his dilettante politicking in India.

Kshatriyaaz, please replay.

--Y2y 21:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Moreover, one should firstly describe Sen's position on the topics. (For example, mention his essay 'India: Large and Small' in which he engages with some claims made by the Hindutva movement. See f.e. http://middlestage.blogspot.com/2005/06/amartya-sens-large-india.html). Otherwise: 1) a reader can not understand what is criticized; 2) WP:NPOV is violated.

Without that this text should be deleted, I think.

--Y2y 20:00, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

No replay. So I have deleted this text. --Y2y 23:00, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dr. Sen is an atheist

Dr. Amartya Sen is a non-religious hindu and an atheist. Dr. Sen is like me. He has clearly said that he is an atheist with a hindu background. RS

Indeed Dr. Amartya Sen is an atheist. In his bio in the article it only says "Hindu", which is inaccurate. Unfortunately this box is un-editable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.57.83.10 (talk) 21:04, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronounciation?

Can someone tell me how to pronounce this guy's name? --alexa999 24.13.171.82 21:14, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 03:44, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism

I'm thinking that the section on criticism could use some cleaning up. Its bulk is made up of a summary of a certain economist's views on Sen's theory of famines. A cursory look at that economist's website reveals him to be a less than reliable source (he claims, for instance, to have "saved millions of lives" through his work). I'm sure there's more legitimate and authoritative critism of Sen out there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.229.185.218 (talk) 14:22, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I half agree with your positions. You are right that the P Bowbrick's website is a unreliable source to cite; however Browbick had an article in the Food Policy journal in 1986, "The Causes of Famine: A Refutation of Professor Sen’s Theory", which was followed by Sen's reply and a rejoinder by Brwobick in subsequent issues. These articles are notable scholarly criticism and deserve to me mentioned in the wikipedia article. That said, Browbick's critique of Sen's Poverty and Famines should be mentioned alongside the discussion of that work, and not segregated to a separate criticism section. Ditto, for the other critiques in the section.

Would you like to edit the article to better source and integrate these and possibly other criticisms of Sen's work ? I will try to lend a hand but it may be a few days before I can devote time to it. Regards. Abecedare (talk) 15:56, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Oster & controversy

There's this paragraph: "He wrote a controversial article in the New York Review of Books entitled "More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing", analyzing the mortality impact of unequal rights between the genders in the developing world, particularly Asia. Other studies, such as one by Emily Oster, have argued that this is an overestimation, though Oster has recanted some of her conclusions.". Given that Oster has changed her mind due to new studies, is it worth mentioning this at all (in an article on Sen)? Is Sen's original thesis still controversial? Cretog8 (talk) 21:19, 29 May 2008 (UTC)