Sen, Amartya

(born Nov. 3, 1933, Santiniketan, India) Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in welfare economics and social choice. Sen is best known for his work on the causes of famine, and his research led to the development of solutions for limiting the effects of food shortages. After attending Presidency College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Sen studied at Trinity College, University of Cambridge (B.A., 1955; M.A. and Ph.D., 1959). He taught economics at the Universities of Jadavpur (1956–58) and Delhi (1963–71), the London School of Economics, the University of London (1971–77), the University of Oxford (1977–88), and Harvard University (1988–98). In 1998 he was appointed master of Trinity College. His Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981) showed that declining wages, unemployment, rising food prices, and inefficient food distribution could lead to starvation. His views encouraged policy makers to maintain stable prices for food.