The Role of Market Mechanism in Enhancing Human Development: A Review of Amartya Sen's Argument for Free Market

Abstract

This study reviews Amartya Sen's emphasis on the role of market in enhancing human development. For Sen, human development must focus on expanding people's freedom to do and live a kind of life which is valuable for them. This study looks at how resources, utilities, income and economic entitlements expand people's capabilities. This article argues that globalized world tends to bring one essential actor which is inevitable to exclude in the process of human development. Even, Sen considers it as key players in development as freedom. This actor is market mechanism. Finally, this work argues that for effective functioning of the market there is need to strengthen civil society so as to promote social justice in the midst of market forces.