Development As Freedom

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• Development As Freedom
• by A. Sen

Brigham Young University Marriott
School http//selfreliance.byu.edu
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Philosophy of the Book

• Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
• That slaves, howeer contented, never know.
• W. Cowper
• Freedom is the both the primary end as well as
  the principal means of development . . . Greater
  freedom enhances the ability of people to help
  themselves and to influence the world (p. 18)
• Sen

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Types of Freedoms (p. 38)

• 1) Political Freedoms
• (Freedom to Choose ones government)
• 2) Economic Facilities
• (Freedom to enjoy and use economic
  resources)
• 3) Social Opportunities
• (Opportunities for education, health care,
  etc.)
• 4) Transparency Guarantees
• (Freedom to deal with others with open
  disclosure)
• 5) Protective Security
• (Social safety net, e.g. unemployment
  benefits)

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Poverty as Capability Deprivation

• Poverty is not merely a lack of income, its a
  feeling of lack of empowerment and well-being.
• African Americans have lower life expectancy than
  those in China, Sri Lanka, or Costa Ricathey
  suffer from greater capability deprivation.
• Development efforts should attempt to provide the
  poor with opportunities to build capabilities,
  e.g. literacy, access to markets, skills, etc.
• People want to have the capability to lead lives
  that they have reason to value. (p. 85)

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Markets and Freedom

• Free markets can have a substantial impact in
  developing freedom
• Labor bondage (the inability to work where and
  when you like, e.g. slavery) is a significant
  impediment to freedom.
• Development of free markets must be coupled with
  the development of social opportunities,
  transparency, security guarantees, democratic
  rights and so on. Free markets, without such
  development, may not enhance freedom.

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Problems in Targeting the Poorp 135

• Information Distortion
• (Potential recipients may provide false
  information)
• Incentive Distortion
• (Potential recipients may not want to earn more)
• Disutility and Stigma
• (Those identified as poor may lose
  self-respect)
• Administrative costs, corruption
• (Targeting and administering programs can be
  costly)
• Political sustainability
• (Programs may die due to lack of political
  supportthe poor have few powerful advocates)

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Democracy and Economic Growth

• Democratic regimes tend to have more robust
  economies
• The poor do care about their democratic rights
• Democracies do not allow famines to occur, since
  the political capital of the poor tends to force
  the government to meet their needs.
• There has been a tremendous growth in the supply
  of food recently and prices have declined (The
  earth is full and there is enough and to spare, D
  C 10417).
• Access to funds to buy food has been the main
  problem during famines (e.g. Ireland exported
  food during the great potato famine).

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Empowering Women

• Literacy and employment are the two most
  important factors in empowering women.
• When women are literate and have jobs, they gain
  more respect in their community and fertility
  rates decline.
• Coercive measures to reduce fertility rates have
  tended to have negative unintended consequences
  (Valerie Hudsons study of the dearth of women in
  China).

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Culture and Human Rights

• All Cultures Desire Freedomthis is universal.
• Even Asian cultures have a history of tolerance
  and a desire for freedom.
• And finally,
• Most programs to help the poor have unintended
  consequences but most of these unintended
  consequences are predictable and therefore can be
  anticipated and managed.