Jim's Quotes

Poverty is not just a lack of money, poverty is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being"—Amartya SenAmartya Sen was born in India in 1933 and lived through an economic downturn that cost the lives of three million of India's poor. This staggering loss of life led him to study what came to be called "welfare economics." After studying at the finest schools in the world, he eventually became a Harvard professor and earned a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on behalf of those in poverty.Sen was a vigorous defender of political freedom and found through his studies that—more than anything else—good old economic growth was necessary to improve the lives of people in poverty. In his 1983 book citing his in-depth studies, Sen reported that declining wages, growing unemployment, inflation and the resulting price increases are the issues that expand poverty. No surprise there, but against popular thought, ...

Poverty is not just a lack of money, poverty is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being"

—Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen was born in India in 1933 and lived through an economic downturn that cost the lives of three million of India's poor. This staggering loss of life led him to study what came to be called "welfare economics." After studying at the finest schools in the world, he eventually became a Harvard professor and earned a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on behalf of those in poverty.

Sen was a vigorous defender of political freedom and found through his studies that—more than anything else—good old economic growth was necessary to improve the lives of people in poverty. In his 1983 book citing his in-depth studies, Sen reported that declining wages, growing unemployment, inflation and the resulting price increases are the issues that expand poverty. No surprise there, but against popular thought, his studies found that long-term programs of government support were promoting poverty instead of helping to alleviate it.

In UNITE INDY's work with people in poverty, we find we are almost always working with folks who are on some kind of government assistance. You don't need a Nobel Prize to understand that, while government assistance might provide a safety net, it will never raise families out of poverty, and certainly will never allow them the stability they need to reach their full God-given potential.

Nothing has really changed since Sen published his studies. We must have an expanding economy to be able to provide economic opportunity for all, that's just a fact. We must then remove barriers that stand in the way and connect those who want to work with jobs that offer advancement and growing financial stability. If we do all that, he believed, families that once were poor could rise up into financial independence and despondency could be replaced with pride.

As a true student of the causes of poverty, Sen turned his back on political answers and worked to improve real lives of real people. His beliefs might be a little out of the norm, but I think he was on the right track.

Jim

*For more on poverty in Indianapolis click here.
*For poverty and unemployment rates in every neighborhood in Marion County, explore explore IndyVitals.