L5 Flashcards
Amartya Sen
Capabilities Framework
Indian
won Nobel Prize in 1998
PhD philosophy
books:
- poverty and famines
- development as freedom
- the argumentative indian
- the country of first boys
Food availability decline (FAD)
This approach assumes famines are caused by a sudden sharp drop in per capita food supply, triggered by natural disasters, wars, or epidemics that shrink the food supply
- price goes up and cannot consume sufficient calories and nutrition
- fixation on food supplies; the Malthusian logic of “too many people, too little food”,
- the inability of groups of people to aqcuire food
view of soup kitchen’s in the 20th century
the nutrition and calories calculations were not part of providing the food, but instead more like a “moral economy”
Entitlement failure 1 (Sen, 1984)
there is no particular one reason for famine. it reflects widespread failure of entitlements for a substantial section of a population;
meaning the inability of a population segment to access essential goods through legal means (such as endowment or exchange entitlement).
“endowment”
refers to the resources or assets a person owns, such as land, livestock, money or skills; it determines what you initially possess and what opportunities you have to use those resources to aqcuire goods or services
“entitlement”
a person’s right to obtain goods or services by using their endowment through legal channels; it concerns what someone can purchase or acquire with the resources they own. this can happen through trade, wages, or selling property
FAD approach VS Entitlement approach
FAD: Famine is due to food shortages.
Entitlement: Famine is due to people’s inability to access food, even when food is available.
Famine is not just about food scarcity but about economic, social, and political systems that determine who has the means to obtain food.
types of entitlements
- production based (growing)
- trade based (buying food)
- own-labor (working for food)
- inheritance and transfer (given by others)
types of entitlement decline or failure
direct = loss of food crop
trade = rising prices (AFG), failing wages (rural areas), wars (Ukraine war)
Entitlement failure 2
food supply VS food access
food insecurity affects people who cannot access adequate food irrespective of food production; a famine can occur even if food supplies are adequate and markets are functioning well
“starvation is a matter of some people not having enough food to eat, and not a matter of there being not enough food to eat” (Sen, 1981:434)
Why do markets not ensure subsistence needs are met?
- markets have no technical, moral, or legal obligation to meet basic needs
- they operate on ‘supply and demand’, not on guaranteeing access to essentials like food
- Marxist Tradition (Sen, 1981): markets prioritize profit and socio-economic class interests over the welfare of the poor
Entitlement approach 2
- shift from large groups to individual entitlements to commodity bundles; including food (basic and primitive right)
- famine = “decline in entitlements for a group of people”
- focuses on starvation; distinct from famine mortality (famine deaths in most cases are caused by epidemic; induced partly by famine but also because of population movement, breakdown of sanitary facilities)
Why did all major famines happen?
drought (based on the ‘food availability decline’ approach)
The Bengal Famine (1943-1944)
Zamindari system: The british government > Zamindars > Peasants
5 reasons:
1. natural hazard
2. rice shortage
3. foreign dominance
4. feudalism
5. prioritization of urban areas
Sen’s arguments about The Bengal Famine (1943-1944)
trade entitlement failure (rice price doubled)
victims from rural areas: fishermen (fish was not worthy enough); agriculture laborers
wartime obligations (urban population was supported to get the production going)
