IAS to Host Albert O. Hirschman Prize Ceremony and Lecture by Amartya Sen

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has announced that the winner of the 2016 Albert O. Hirschman Prize, the Council’s highest honor, is Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University and a former Institute Trustee. Sen was cited by the prize committee as “one of the foremost economists of our times, a scholar and public intellectual of striking depth and breadth, comfortable not only with the scholarly apparatus of his profession but with the deep philosophical and ethical implications of the economist’s practice and the practical consequences of their analyses for global challenges of hunger, famine, and inequality.”

The biennial Hirschman Prize is awarded to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to international, interdisciplinary social science research, theory, and public communication. The prize's namesake, Albert O. Hirschman, came to the Institute as a Member in the School of Social Science in 1972, became a Professor in 1974, and remained on the IAS Faculty until his death in 2012. Renowned in the field of social science, Hirschman contributed highly influential work in economics and politics in developing countries that has had a profound impact on economic thought and practice in the United States and beyond.

For more information, visit the SSRC press release.