The Standard of Living.

SEN, Amartya.

Item Number: 80011

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

First edition of Sen’s Tanner Lecture given at Cambridge in 1985. Octavo, original cloth. Signed and dated by Amartya Sen on the half-title page. Inscription to the front free endpaper, near fine in a very good dust jacket. Contributors include John Muellbauer, Ravi Kanbur, Keith Hart and Bernard Williams. Edited by Geoffrey Hawthorn.

Amartya Sen argues that "the standard of living" has been poorly understood and narrowly defined; it is not just a function of opulence, and cannot be seen as utility. It is, he suggests, the "capabilities" offered in states of affairs. In his comments, Bernard Williams considers the conceptual connections among Sen's capabilities, economic welfare, and the broader notion of "well-being", and asks whether the notion raises questions of justice.