Editing Amartya Sen (section)

=== ''Poverty and Famines'' (1981) ===
In 1981, Sen published ''Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation'' (1981), a book in which he argued that famine occurs not only from a lack of food, but from inequalities built into mechanisms for distributing food. Sen also argued that the Bengal famine was caused by an urban economic boom that raised [[food prices]], thereby causing millions of rural workers to starve to death when their wages did not keep up.<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine | last= Sachs | first= Jeffrey | author-link = Jeffrey Sachs | title= The real causes of famine: a Nobel laureate blames authoritarian rulers | url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989405,00.html | access-date= 16 June 2014 | magazine= Time | date= 26 October 1998 }}</ref> In 1999 he wrote, "no famine has ever taken place ... in a functioning democracy".<ref>Sen (1999, p. 16).  Similarly, on p. 176, he wrote, "there has never been a famine in a functioning multiparty democracy."</ref>

In addition to his important work on the causes of famines, Sen's work in the field of development economics has had considerable influence in the formulation of the "[[Human Development Report]]",<ref name=UNDP>{{cite book | contribution = Overview &#124; Celebrating 20 years of human development | editor-last = United Nations Development Programme | editor-first = UNDP | editor-link = United Nations Development Programme | title = Human Development Report 2010 &#124; 20th anniversary edition &#124; the real wealth of nations: pathways to human development | page = 2 | publisher = United Nations Development Programme | location = New York| year = 2010 | isbn = 9780230284456 | quote = ...the first HDR called for a different approach to economics and development – one that put people at the centre. The approach was anchored in a new vision of development, inspired by the creative passion and vision of Mahbub ul Haq, the lead author of the early HDRs, and the ground-breaking work of Amartya Sen.}} [http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/270/hdr_2010_en_complete_reprint.pdf Pdf version.]</ref> published by the [[United Nations Development Programme]].<ref>{{Citation
 | last1 = Batterbury | first1 = Simon
 | last2 = Fernando | first2 = Jude
 | contribution = Amartya Sen
 | editor1-last = Hubbard | editor1-first = Phil
 | editor2-last = Kitchin | editor2-first = Rob
 | editor3-last = Valentine | editor3-first = Gill
 | title = Key thinkers on space and place
 | pages = 251–257
 | publisher = Sage
 | location = London
 | year = 2004
 | isbn = 9780761949626
 | postscript = .
}} [http://www.simonbatterbury.net/pubs/Senlongversion.htm Draft]</ref> This annual publication that ranks countries on a variety of economic and social indicators owes much to the contributions by Sen among other social choice theorists in the area of economic measurement of poverty and inequality.<ref name="UNDP" />