Summary
Amartya Sen's central argument is that famines are caused by entitlement failures, not solely by a lack of food supply. He introduces the "entitlement approach" which analyzes starvation by focusing on ownership and exchange, rather than just food availability. This method examines how individuals and groups acquire command over food through legal means. The book critically examines existing approaches from economics, sociology, and political theory, highlighting the importance of distributional issues.
The book offers a general analysis of how to characterize and measure poverty. By linking the conceptualization of poverty to the analysis of starvation, Sen emphasizes the predominant role of distributional problems, including those affecting different occupation groups. Readers learn that understanding poverty and famine requires analyzing how people gain access to resources, not just the total amount of those resources.
Key concepts
- Entitlement approach — An analytical method that focuses on ownership and exchange to explain starvation and famines, rather than food supply.
- Ownership and exchange — Key elements within the entitlement approach that determine an individual's command over food.
- Distributional issues — Problems concerning how resources, including food, are divided among different groups in society, central to conceptualizing poverty and analyzing starvation.
From the book
Description: The main focus of this book is on the causation of starvation in general and of famines in particular. The author develops the alternative method of analysis--the 'entitlement approach'--concentrating on ownership and exchange, not on food supply. The book also provides a general analysis of the characterization and measurement of poverty. Various approaches used in economics, sociology, and political theory are critically examined. The predominance of distributional issues, including distribution between different occupation groups, links up the problem of conceptualizing poverty with that of analyzing starvation.
Snippet: The main focus of this book is on the causation of starvation in general and of famines in particular.