Amartya Sen received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 for his contributions to welfare economics, restoring an ethical dimension to economics. He was professor of economics at LSE from 1971 to 1977, and he continued to teach part-time at the School from 1978 to 1982.
His work produced a new understanding of the catastrophes that plague society's poorest people and helps to explain the economic mechanisms underlying famines and poverty. He is best known for his book Poverty and Famine: an essay on entitlement and deprivation.