Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998 having written Inequality Reexamined in 1992, a seminal text setting out a theory to evaluate social arrangements and inequality. By asking ‘equality of what?’ Sen shows that (in)equality should be assessed as human freedom. The text lays out the fundamental ideas to Sen’s Capability Approach.

This approach is celebrated in diverse academic disciplines because of its specific contribution towards the improvement to debates on inequality beyond economic deprivation and utility measures. Sen’s arguments have had many practical applications throughout policy circles such as Human Development Index.