Amartya Sen disputes poverty link to crime

from SABC

Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Laureate in economics, says it is not always the case that poverty causes violence, and that violence can also be caused by factors such as deprivation where people may seek revenge later.

The Harvard professor was speaking at the annual Nadine Gordimer lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand last night. He says political violence is the result of instigation and that emphasizing one political identity over the other is a problem.

Sen has helped shape thinking on global welfare and development economics, poverty, famine and democracy.

Tomorrow Sen will join a discussion at Wits with Gordimer, Trevor Manuel, the finance minister, and Edwin Cameron, a judge.