Author and Context
“The Quality of Life” is a collaborative work edited by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, published in 1993. Amartya Sen is an Indian economist and philosopher who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory. His work has been foundational in development economics, particularly in reconceptualizing how we measure human well-being and poverty beyond simple income metrics.
Nature of the Work
This is an edited volume that emerged from a research project at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER). The book brings together contributions from multiple scholars examining fundamental questions about how to assess and measure quality of life. It represents an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on economics, philosophy, and social theory to address normative questions about human welfare and development.
Central Themes
The work is centrally concerned with challenging purely economic or utilitarian approaches to measuring human welfare. Sen’s contributions to this volume connect to his broader theoretical framework, particularly his “capabilities approach” – the idea that quality of life should be assessed not merely by resources or subjective happiness, but by people’s actual capabilities and freedoms to achieve various functionings they have reason to value.
The book engages with fundamental questions: What constitutes a good life? How should we measure well-being across different societies and contexts? What are the appropriate metrics for assessing development and social progress? These questions have direct implications for policy-making, international development, and how we understand poverty and inequality.
Significance
This volume represents an important contribution to development economics and political philosophy. It helped establish the theoretical foundations for alternative approaches to measuring human development, influencing frameworks like the United Nations’ Human Development Index. The work reflects Sen’s characteristic concern with moving beyond narrow economic metrics to consider the substantive freedoms and opportunities people have to live lives they value. The collaboration with Nussbaum, a prominent philosopher, exemplifies the interdisciplinary nature of this inquiry into human welfare and flourishing.
