Ophi Research in Progress Series 2008

This paper is part of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative's Research in Progress (RP) series. These are preliminary documents posted online to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The series number and letter identify each version (i.e. paper RP1a after revision will be posted as RP1b) for citation. Please cite these papers as Author Last name, First name, " Title " (Year) OPHI Research in Progress ##a. and AusAID are also recognised for their past support. The writings of Amartya Sen (1933–) trace and draw attention to many interconnections between ethics and economics. Indeed, they have done much to reshape this intersection. Sen spent much of his childhood in Santineketan, Bengal. He studied economics first at Presidency College Calcutta and subsequently at Trinity College Cambridge, where he was awarded a Prize Fellowship. University, where he is the Lamont University Professor and a professor of economics and philosophy. In 1998 Sen was awarded the Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions in three areas of welfare economics: social choice, welfare distributions and poverty. As of July 2007, Sen had published 25 books and over 365 articles. In the Royer lectures, later published under the title Ethics and Economics, Sen observes that modern economics began in part as a branch of ethics, as suggested by Adam Smith's position as professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow. Sen observes two origins of economics: ethics and engineering. Economics' ethical fastenings address motivation (how one should live) and social achievement (the human good). Engineering