USAID Awards Amartya Sen the Second Annual George C. Marshall Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2005
05-124
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov
Contact: USAID Press Office
WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today it has awarded Amartya Sen, a world-renowned economist, scholar, philosopher and author, the 2nd annual George C. Marshall Award. The George C. Marshall award has been established by USAID to honor and learn from internationally recognized leaders in the field of development.
"Amartya Sen, this year's recipient of the George C. Marshall Award, is someone who has thought most deeply about the world we live in and how we can more effectively meet the unprecedented threats we face today as well as the age-old scourges of humanity: famine, disease, and poverty," said USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios.
Born in Santiniketan, India in 1933, Amartya Sen earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. Sen is currently Lamont University Professor at Harvard University and was until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Before first joining Harvard in 1987, he was the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University and a Fellow at All Souls College. Prior to that he was Professor of Economics at Delhi University and at the London School of Economics.
Over the years Sen became best known for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political liberalism. Amartya Sen's books have been translated into more than thirty languages.
In 1998, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in welfare economics and in 1999 he received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award . In 2003, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
Named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the USAID award pays tribute to the great American statesman and the Marshall Plan which he led. When Secretary of State Marshall announced his famous plan on June 5, 1947, he defined the nation's policy in the following terms: "Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist."
The origins of USAID can effectively be traced to this moment. The Marshall Plan laid the ground work for a new world order. Through development assistance, it helped bring the world out of the chaos of the two world wars. It helped forge an alliance of freedom loving peoples that enabled us to defeat a new totalitarian menace.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years. For more information on USAID, visit: http://www.usaid.gov.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
Back to Top ^
|
