Guide Note:

Amartya Sen is an Indian-born Harvard University economist whose work focuses on the economics of welfare and poverty. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Prize in Economics "for his contributions to welfare economics."

Fast Facts:

1. Born: November 3, 1933
2. Birthplace: Santiniketan, India
3. Academic Institution: Harvard University
4. Occupation: Professor of Economics
5. Alma-mater: B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, 1956
6. Graduate Degree: Ph.D., Trinity College, 1959
7. Phone: 617.495.1871
8. Fax: 617.496.5942

Key Dates

• 1933: Born in India
• 1956: Graduates from Trinity College, Cambridge
• 1959: Earns Ph.D. from Trinity College, Cambridge
• 1981: Publishes book Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation
• 1998: Wins Nobel Prize for Economics
• 1999: Receives Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor
• 2004: Becomes member of Harvard faculty for second time

Sen's book, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, changed the way that the world looked at mass starvation. Previously, economists and politicians had assumed that starvation, logically, was the result of an absence of food. Sen demonstrated that this was not so, and that starvation and famine was more the result of an ineffective distribution of food amongst the population rather than from any actual shortage of food. Sen's experience in the West Bengal famine of 1953 informed his theories. Today, Sen's perspective on famine is commonly accepted as fact.