This title brings together and develops some of the most important economic, social, and ethical ideas Sen has explored. It examines the claims of equality in social arrangements, stressing that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than either their resources or their welfare.

Sen's acute analysis and his remarkable powers of making subtle and relevant distinctions combine with his astonishing range of information to make instruments suitable for immediate political application ... compelling and elegantly argued book.

`a distinguished contribution to normative economics' Journal of Economic Literature `The ground is laid out with precision ... he is certainly a master of his craft.' Times Literary Supplement `this book is not a work of political theory, and it does not start from the political questions that themselves create the demand for an understanding of equality. Sen is both an economist and a moral philosopher, but he approaches the problems of equality by a route that runs from economic theory ... Sen's acute analysis and his remarkable powers of making subtle and relevant distinctions combine with his astonishing range of information to make instruments suitable for immediate political application ... compelling and elegantly argued book.' London Review of Books `important issue, then, as Sen has helpfully insisted over many years, is not whether we are in favour of equality, but rather: equality of what? ... Sen is both an economists and a moral philosopher, but he approaches the problems of equality by a route than runs from economic theory ... Sen's acute analysis and his remarkable powers of making subtle and relevant distinctions combine with his astonishing range of information to make instruments suitable for immediate political application ... compelling and elegantly argued book' London Review of Books `compelling and elegantly argued book' London Review of Books