Nobel Prize Winning Economist Speaks on Poverty, Globalization

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 5, 2006 at 8:49 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Professor Amartya Sen won the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics. He is know for his theories on how economic policies affect the well-being of a nation. Sen discusses the factors that lead to poverty and

Solving the world’s problems of mass migrations, starvation, and environmental issues, relies on improving the economies of poor countries. That begs the question of why some countries are so poor, while others are wealthy.

Three decades ago, when economist Amartya Sen published some of his most important work, economists believed that this wealth disparity was based on native resources. But Sen, who grew up in India, theorized that poverty had more to do with politics and economic systems.

Professor Sen will be speaking at 5:30p.m. tonight on the topic of

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The Illusion of Identity at UCSD’s Institute of the Americas.

Guest

Amartya Sen , professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, where he holds a Lamont University Professorship. He is also the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics.