“If the knowledge of torture of others makes you sick, it is a case of sympathy... It can be argued that behaviour based on sympathy is in an important sense egoistic, for one is oneself pleased at others' pleasure and pained at others' pain, and the pursuit of one's own utility may thus be helped by sympathetic action.” IfsMayImportantActionPainReligionPleasureCasesMoralitySickOneselfPursuitTortureBehaviourUtilitySympatheticPain And Pleasure Book:Choice, Welfare and Measurement Source: Choice, Welfare and Measurement
“If the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You cant win many elections after a famine, and you dont like being criticized by newspapers, opposition parties in parliament, and so on. Democracy gives the government an immediate political incentive to act.” IfsGivingGovernmentPoliticalWinningPartyOpinionDemocracyElectionNewspapersVulnerableOppositionBad ThingsParliamentIncentivesPublic OpinionFamineCan't WinOpposition Parties Author:Amartya Sen
“Theres a clear and strong connection between fertility reduction and womens literacy and empowerment, including womens gainful employment. If you look at the more than 300 districts of India, the strongest influences in explaining fertility variations are womens literacy and gainful economic employment.” IfsLooksStrongClearInfluenceEconomicEmpowermentConnectionsIndiaIncludingEmploymentStrongestLiteracyExplainingVariationReductionFertilityStrong Connection Author:Amartya Sen
“I think the whole progress over the last two or three millennia has been entirely dependent on ideas and techniques and commodities and people moving from one part of the world to another. It seems difficult to take an anti-globalization view if one takes globalization properly in its full sense.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldHas BeensTwoIdeasWholeSeemsLastsMovingThreeDifficultViewsProgressTechniqueDependentCommodityGlobalization Author:Amartya Sen
“Your voice is much more articulate and people listen to you if you've been to school. In family decisions, not surprisingly, the biggest impact in reducing fertility is girls' education.” PeopleIfsSchoolGirlVoiceDecisionImpactReducingFertility Author:Amartya Sen
“Every time you have an opportunity of opening a school, its fee and funding is really relatively small in comparison with the big expenditure, which is basically quote unquote defense. I think if there were fees, progress could be very much faster. But for that we need not only the government in different countries to understand it but the society to put pressure on it, the parents to understand that their desire to have their children educated can actually be realized, and it could make a dramatic difference.” IfsThinkingNeedsChildrenDifferentCountryBigsGovernmentSchoolDesireOpportunityParentDifferencesProgressPressureDefenseOpeningEducatedFasterDramaticComparisonFundingFeesExpendituresDifferent Countries Author:Amartya Sen
“If you're dealing with grappling [with] problems of feeding people, the biggest impact in fertility reduction is girls' schools. Schooled girls make a bigger impact on that than any other factor - not these various regulations [such as] you have to have one child or that. It turns out that none of these are effective.” PeopleIfsChildrenProblemSchoolTurnsGirlBiggerImpactVariousFactorsRegulationFeedingReductionSchooledFertilityGrappling Author:Amartya Sen
“If jobs are important, education is important.” IfsImportantJobsEducation Is Important Author:Amartya Sen
“Women's education has a much greater impact [on], for example, fertility. Men's education, if our studies are correct, ha[s] almost no impact on fertility. Women's do. So, by the way, as a man, it's not to the glory of men specifically that it's women's education that reduces child mortality.” IfsMenWayChildrenStudyGreaterExampleGloryImpactMortalityFertilityWomen's Education Author:Amartya Sen
“The higher education has always appealed to the South Asian social leaders across all the countries in South Asia. But primary education has been neglected. The oddity, by the way, is if you look at the contrast in India, there are some areas like Kerala where there's a long history of educational development.” IfsWayLooksLongHas BeensCountrySocialLeaderDevelopmentHigherAreasIndiaSouthEducationalPrimariesContrastAsiaAsianNeglectedHigher EducationOdditiesSouth AsiaPrimary Education Author:Amartya Sen
“[The] USA has been immensely successful in making the determination to deal with terrorism [as] a factor in the global world and, similarly, if it took a similar interest in education, it could make a difference.” IfsWorldHas BeensInterestDifferencesDealsSuccessfulDeterminationTerrorismFactorsUsaMaking A Difference Author:Amartya Sen
“Education makes us the human beings we are. It has major impacts on economic development, on social equity, gender equity. In all kinds of ways, our lives are transformed by education and security. Even if it had not one iota of effect [on] security, it would still remain in my judgment the biggest priority in the world.” IfsWorldWayHumansKindStillsSocialHuman BeingsOur LivesEconomicEffectsSecurityDevelopmentJudgmentMajorsImpactGenderPrioritiesAll KindsTransformedEquityEconomic Development Author:Amartya Sen
“Poverty is a big barrier if you are at the bottom layer of society, don't know where the next meal is coming from. It is not a big barrier of taking the rich with the poor in a big society to provide schooling for all.” IfsKnowsBigsNextPoorPovertyRichBottomMealsBarriersLayersSchooling Author:Amartya Sen
“Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. Not surprisingly, while India continued to have famines under British rule right up to independence... they disappeared suddenly with the establishment of a multiparty democracy and... a free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threaten by famines can have.” IfsCountryHelpingGovernmentPoliticalEasyPartyEffortDemocracySeriousCriticismIndiaIndependentElectionIndependencePressesDemocraticBritishActiveNewspapersOppositionWarningEstablishmentFamineFree PressDemocratic GovernmentOpposition PartiesBritish Rule Author:Amartya Sen
“I was told Indian women don't think like that about equality. But I would like to argue that if they don't think like that they should be given a real opportunity to think like that.” IfsThinkingShouldRealOpportunityGivenWomenEqualityArguingIndianWomens Rights Author:Amartya Sen
“Any classification according to a singular identity polarizes people in a particular way, but if we take note of the fact that we have many different identities - related not just to religion but also to language, occupation and business, politics, class and poverty, and many others - we can see that the polarization of one can be resisted by a fuller picture. So knowledge and understanding are extremely important to fight against singular polarization.” PeopleIfsWayImportantDifferentFactsFightingLanguageUnderstandingClassPovertyKnowledgeIdentityParticularDiversityNotesRelatedOccupationBrotherhoodUnity In DiversityClassificationPolarizationKnowledge And Understanding Author:Amartya Sen
“If a theory of justice is to guide reasoned choice of policies, strategies or institutions, then the identification of fully just social arrangements is neither necessary nor sufficient.” IfsChoicesSocialJusticePolicyTheoryInstitutionsStrategyGuidesSufficientArrangementsIdentification Book:The Idea of Justice Source: The Idea of Justice
