Outstanding - Rated 
Amartya Sen has redefined what it means to struggle for change, for development, introducing a very human dimension to that thing called progress. Essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the world.
Development as rhetoric - Rated 
This is Amartya Sen's, Nobel Prize winner in Economics and collaborator of Martha Nussbaum, most famous work. In "Development as Freedom" he gives a broad and general overview of his views on development economics, and in particular on the priorities that must be made in creating social and economic policy in the developing world. The general thesis of the book is that many economic advisors have far too much relied on measurements of real income alone, and ignored the fact that income and wealth are a means to an end, and that this end is freedom (broadly defined as capacity); and that for this reason any policy which increases income but decreases freedom must be rejected. This thesis of itself is strong and well-made, and a deserved rebuttal to the ideas of many Asian development economists and politicians who see a right-wing dictatorship à la Lee Kwan Yew as the most effective way to create economic growth, and therefore desirable.
But that is, unfortunately, the only point of the book. Sen's actual discussion of which economic policies would lead to the results of increasing freedom is so general as to be practically unusable. He has a completely unwarranted faith in the capacity of markets (albeit interventionist ones) to create these increases in freedom, and incorrectly claims that the proof is overwhelmingly in favor of markets leading to growth on their own, when the evidence is in reality wildly conflicting and the strongest proofs are against markets. What makes this even worse is his ignorant conflating of markets as such with capitalism, which leads to such silly canards as dismissing criticisms of capitalism as not understanding freedom, since after all, what can be more free than freedom of exchange? In this way, his defense of mainstream development policy is worse than undergraduate level.
Moreover, the very greatest part of the book is filled with meaningless and saccharine rhetoric of the most astonishingly unintelligent kind. In each short chapter addressing some major aspect of development economics and its problematic, he will, after much talk, come to such stunning conclusions as "take the middle road" and "there are arguments for and against interventionism and we must consider both", as well as the whopping conclusion that we need to take the whole spectrum of effects on people into account when suggesting policies. One hardly needs to have a Nobel Prize to come to these 'insights'.
To add insult to injury, his discussion of past economic policies and economists in general is incompetent and historically dubious. He claims that no democratic state has experienced famines, but then qualifies this by excluding colonies of such states, without however giving any reason for this - creating a wholly ad hoc argument for an unproven link between 'democracy' (which apparently includes pre-Reform Bill Britain) and well-being. Similarly, he constantly cherry-picks quotes from Adam Smith to cast him as a concerned and judicious proponent of development, while a more objective look at the entirety of Smith's oeuvre would quickly reveal the degree to which he appeared as a propagandist for the Glasgow mercantile and industrial interests. It must be said in Sen's favor though that he does recognize that famines can easily occur where free markets are present, which at least puts him at a level above most apologetics for economic orthodoxy.
On the whole this book is a major disappointment. Sen's vague and hand-waving rhetoric is useless for any kind of policy purpose and yet fills most of the book, even obscuring the one point he does have about freedom as end and means. With the idea he originally had, he could have done a lot better, but his unwarranted support for mainstream economics and its equivocations has made this impossible.
Social Science at its Best!!! - Rated
'Development as Freedom' convincingly and lucidly argues a crucial point - that freedom is both instrumentally and intrinsically worthwhile and should be pursued as such. Sen outlines his thesis; breaks it down into easily understandable components; shows how it differs from other such theories in economics/philosophy (Rawls' theory of justice, Nozick's libertarianism, and various forms of utilitarianism) and provides convincing evidence for this.
Originally a series of lectures, Sen's book is intended for wider consumption than just academics and is thus a sort of manifesto for future action toward combating poverty. In fact, Sen redefines poverty as 'capability deprivation' in this book.
It's about the human being and not efficiency - Rated 
I was drawn to Amartya Sen's work because of his concern for the poor and his undoubted intellectual mettle. (He won the 1998 Novel prize in economics). I was not disappointed with my choice - Development as Freedom.
Unlike many economists, Sen speaks the language of humans and is concerned with the real life impact of development not on `efficiency' of the market but on ordinary people; their ability to live the lives that they have reason to value. Hence, the title of this book, Development as Freedom, is apt; Sen is concerned with framing the discussion on economic development in terms of freedom of the individual.
Sen's approach to development, which is evident throughout the book, is that the existing literature on development tends to focus almost entirely increase in growth rates and gross national product (GNP). While stressing the importance of GNP, Sen argues that this `human as capital' approach to development is too narrow. Indeed, he stresses than humans are far more than capital in the productive process. Using the examples of China and India, Sen demonstrates that arguing that good education, nourishment and health are important to the GNP growth, it is by no means that only raison-d'être for education. Education may have other benefits such as reading, communication and being able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Indeed, in Sen's viewpoint, education and social development is a fundamental freedom that is desirable in itself and not just because of its impact on the commodity production process.
Development as Freedom touches on every topic under the sun; from philosophy to sociology and from science to - of course - economics. Of all the topics, that Sen's keen mind surveys, the following stood out:
Markets
The market mechanism works in a society where there is free flow of information and when the `invisible hand' is not used only in the service of the powerful. The problems that arise from market mechanisms often have little to do with markets themselves but with the lack of underlying institutions, such as the rule of law, conflict resolution, trust and contracts. The solution lies not just in scrapping markets altogether but in establishing the institutions upon which markets can thrive.
The market mechanism alone cannot solve all of society's problems. Sen shows that in the context of developing countries in general that there is a need for public policy needs that create social opportunities. The author argues that in the past of the rich countries of today that there was concerted government action on education, health care and land reform. Why should it be any different today? Sen observes that the problem is really an unspoken belief that human development i.e. health, education and welfare are really luxuries that poor nations cannot afford. By showing examples from Kerala and Sri Lanka, Sen debunks the argument that GNP growth is the only determinant of social development.
Democracy
Sen challenges the Lee thesis (formulated by the former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew). The thesis holds that freedom and democracy impede economic growth. As a consequence, if given the choice between fulfilling economic needs and political freedom, poor people would rather choose the former. But is the Lee thesis really true? Sen shows that the evidence for the Lee Thesis is very thin on the ground. The only way to judge whether the thesis is acceptable to the poor is to put it to a vote. Alas, that is precisely what the authoritarian ruler fear.
Food, Famine and Population Growth
There is a perception in the especially in the developed world that the poor (in Africa and Asia) are breeding like rabbits and that soon there will be little food to feed all those poor, hungry mouths. Again, Sen presents evidence to the contrary; Malthus definitely got it wrong. Food production has been increasing at an ever increasing pace in the last five decades. Furthermore, food prices had been falling (at least until 1999 when the book was published). While there are good reasons to limit family sizes, the Malthusian doomsday scenario that has been expected since 1800 shall not happen anytime soon.
There is very much else I like about Sen's deeply reflective (if philosophical as opposed to statistical) approach to economic and social development. He tackles everything from corruption to inequality. However, his writing style/expression can be convoluted and high falutin.
Sen sees himself very much in the same tradition as Adam Smith; a champion of liberty who happened to set his mind on economics and politics.
Development as Freedom is a timely call to focus on human beings not because they are producers in a faceless machine but as intrinsically important entities. It is a worthy read and deserves 4 stars.
thought provoking view on development - Rated
Sen proposes an alternative to the obsession of conservative development theory with economic factors. In his view, development is the product of human agency or freedom i.e the more capable people are of living lives of their own choosing, the more benefits accrue to society. The objective of development policy must, therefore, be to remove constraints to human freedom.
Sen's point is that people need more than money to live qualitative lives. Even more, in many instances (and he gives numerous examples), other factors such as good health, basic education, political freedom would be more helpful than simply throwing money at the situation. Such factors are also "freedoms" which are essential in enhancing human capacity and producing tangible social benefits. A narrow focus on only economic factors would not produce a wholesome, sustainable effect on society.
Sen seeks to expand the boundaries of what development policy should focus on. The most obvious weakness of his paradigm is the lack of a set order of priorities. Even though Sen identifies 5 "key" freeedoms as fundamental to enhancing capacity, his paradigm, because of its focus on the factors affecting human capacity instead of specific macro-economic targets, lacks a concise, easily implementable agenda. However, Sen makes no apologies about this. It is, afterall, his point precisely; there is no single magic lever. For development to occur, governments must address the complex, inter-related, diverse factors (both economic and non-economic) that constrain the capacity of people to live highly productive and qualitative lives.
This is an excellent contribution to development studies and a highly informative read.
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