Sen is widely recognized for his study of the 1974 Bangladesh floods.
At a time when other economists and social scientists blamed the environment for the resulting famine and devastation, Sen's view was more subtle.
He found that the floods themselves were not entirely to blame for the famine. Farmers whose fields were destroyed had no way to make ends meet, since their government did not find a way to employ them gainfully.
Sen continues to challenge the prevailing assumption that food shortages are the cause for famines. His research suggests that poverty and infrastructure problems are the real culprits.
He has also developed an index to measure poverty while taking into account the distribution of resources among poor people and the average wealth of those in poverty.
A native of India, Sen graduated from Presidency College in Calcutta and received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Trinity College.
Before coming to Harvard in 1987, Sen taught about political economy at Oxford for 10 years. He was Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics between 1971 and 1977.
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