Economic Man

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Amartya Sen

Introduction

Throughout the history of economics, there has existed a debate regarding the concept of the economic man (homo economicus). According to this concept, human beings are unwaveringly rational and self interested economic actors. The goal of the economic man is to maximize his or her own utility. We began the class with a debate over slavery and an economists’ opposition to slavery, based on a violation of the notion of an economic man.

Some thinkers, most notably Thomas Carlyle, believed that some groups did not possess the intelligence or reasoning abilities necessary to govern themselves. Therefore, other more “advanced” races should be in charge in order to ensure their wellbeing and to maximize world productivity. In opposition to this line of thinking was J.S. Mill and a long list of abolitionists who believed that Thomas Carlyle’s desire to create a ruling race to subject all “sub-human” races was a direct violation of the principle of the economic man. Mill's belief was that regardless of race or education level, people have the ability as economic actors to make the rational decisions that will maximize their own utility and thereby ensure their well-being.

Capabilities Approach

First developed by Amartya Sen in the 1980s as part of welfare economics, capabilities is described by Sen as a "reflection of the freedom to achieve valuable functionings."<ref name="Reexamined">Inequality Reexamined, Amartya Sen, Harvard University Press, 1992.</ref> The theory assesses:

  1. well-being
  • This measure of well-being includes being healthy, well-fed, clothed, and housed.
  1. freedom to pursue well-being
  • This measure examines the influence that the the capability to pursue well-being may have on the person's well-being. For example, a person may be healthy, fed, clothed, etc, but barred from pursuing education, such as is the case for females in some cultures. If the economic actor does not have the freedom to pursue his or her desired goal, well-being suffers.<ref name="Reexamined">Inequality Reexamined, Amartya Sen, Harvard University Press, 1992.</ref>


According to the theory, this freedom can be limited by a variety of factors, including government intervention, accessibility of education, economic situations, etc. Using Sen's capabilities approach, we can deduce that Sen believes that as economic actors, human beings have the theoretical ability to make the decisions that will bring them to whatever state of being they regard as wellbeing. However, humans require freedom to make the aforementioned decisions. However, Sen is unclear about what freedom entails.

Sen on Capabilities

Sen developed the capabilities approach with the goal of developing a framework that could assess and measure poverty in terms of well-being, in the hopes of ultimately influencing governments to introduce policy specifically designed to rectify the pinpointed issues. However, the theory has proven difficult to translate into actual policy.

J.S. Mill v Sen

J.S. Mill










Smith v Sen

Adam Smith










Carlyle v Sen

Thomas Carlyle











Conclusion/Wrap-up

References

<references />

<ref>Inequality Reexamined, Amartya Sen, Harvard University Press, 1992.</ref>

The Idea of Justice Sen, Amartya, 1933-

Poverty, inequality and health : an international perspective Leon, David A.

The political economy of hunger : selected essays Drèze, Jean.

On ethics and economics Sen, Amartya Kumar. Specifically on Welfare and Human choice.

The Secret History of the Dismal Science Series Leavy, David M, Peace, Sandra J

generate citations:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/capability-approach/

http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Human_Rights_and_Capabilities.pdf