Freedom, Responsibility and Economics of the Person

192 Pages·2013·0.92 MB·English

by  Jérôme Ballet

Freedom, Responsibility and
Economics of the Person
The capability approach has developed significantly since Amartya Sen was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998. It is now recognised as being
highly beneficial in the analysis of poverty and inequality, but also in the rede-
finition of policies aimed at improving the wellbeing of individuals.
The approach has been applied within numerous sectors, from health and
education to sustainable development, but beyond the obvious interest that it
represents for the classical economics tradition, it has also encountered certain
limitations. While acknowledging the undeniable progress that the approach has
made in renewing the thinking on the development and wellbeing of a popula-
tion, this book takes a critical stance.
It focusses particularly on the approach’s inadequacy vis- à-vis the continental
phenomenological tradition and draws conclusions about the economic analysis of
development. In a more specific sense, it highlights the fact that the approach is
too bound by standard economic logic, which has prevented it from taking account
of a key ‘person’ dimension – namely, the ability of an individual to assume
responsibility. As a result, this book advocates the notion that if the approach is
used carelessly in relation to development policies, it can cause a number of perni-
cious effects, some of which may lead to disastrous consequences.
Due to its multidisciplinary nature, this book will be of interest to those working
in the fields of economics, philosophy, development studies and sociology.
Jérôme Ballet is Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Versailles
Saint Quentin-e n-Yvelines, France, and Researcher at the Institute of Research
for Development, France.
Damien Bazin is Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Nice
Sophia Antipolis, GREDEG, France.
Jean- Luc Dubois is Research Professor at the Institute of Research for Devel-
opment, France, and he teaches at the Catholic University of Paris, France.
François-Régis Mahieu is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University
of Versailles Saint Quentin-e n-Yvelines, France.
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