Inequality Reexamined

Sen, a Nobel prize winner, has had many great ideas in his career, but this book just sticks to a few of them. The big point he hits early on is that all political theories are theories of egalitarianism: The only difference is how they answer the question, "Equality of what?" For instance, libertarians believe that everyone has an equal right to negative liberty, utilitarians believe in a right to an equal weighting in the arithmetic social well-being function, and Rawlsians believe in a right to equal "basic goods." Where does Sen fit in? A little hard to tell from this work--he's good at the "consider this alternative" style of writing--but he emphasizes a blend of utilitarianism and Rawlsianism, one that takes seriously what it would really mean to give every human being a decent shot at a humane life. His standards are actually quite low--non-utopian to be sure--but he looks in every nook and cranny and finds much more than you'd expect. In particular, Sen emphasizes how accidents of birth such as health create an underlying inequality across people that often can only be reversed at great expense. On a non-health-related issue, I often ask myself how many tax dollars the people of Britain had to pay to ensure that Salman Rushdie was able to enjoy his right to life and his right to free speech. The point, of course, is that it often costs quite a bit to guarantee some citizens the bare minimum of liberty. So egalitarianism requires unequal government action, as Rushdie himself could tell you. In many different ways, Sen makes this point throughout his text. If you're looking to read a book by Sen, I wouldn't make this the first one: Read his Development As Freedom first--it's his summary of his life's work, well written and deeply insightful. My economics students love reading Development As Freedom. But if you're looking for a second book by Sen, one that will challenge you and please you, I can recommend this book without hesitation.

The most basic idea, that one person's equality is another's inequality, is explored in detail. Sen illuminates many of the flaws in standard economic thinking, and how the philosophical underpinnings of economics guide and distort economic reasoning.

I read this book in one sitting, and let me say it is a great book. It is odd so few books are written on such a basic philosophical question as equality, and reading mister Sen is akin to drinking a cold glass of water for a man in a desert of political philosophy. The prose is somewhat weak, the stye is stilted, and that oddly only seems to add to mister Sens' achievement: I never get the feeling that when I turn the next page I will be bored or watch him say something unnecessarily pedantic. The whole book is carried solely by the interesting subject at hand and mister Sens endlessly excellent commentary on it. That having been said, I agree with none of it. I do not value equality in any way, and my politics are thoroughly aristocratic and Old Right. So perhaps the possible reader should take that into account: I have nothing but praise for mister Sens books, and this book in particular is an excellent dive. Perhaps praise from a trenchant enemy is worth more than praise from the ideologically like minded. I will be reading it and making notes and attacks on it for a year to come, at the very least. No matter how you view equality, I advocate mister Sen without reservation. This is excellent. Please buy it.

Amartya Sen really questions the very foundations that determine of what is equality and development. It is indeed a marvellous piece of work.