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Freedom and Our Future
Memorandum for the President
Amartya Sen, February 25, 2000
to develop to appreciate the protective power of democracy.
Freedom and the Population Problem
Development calls for the simultaneous use of many institutions. Even though the market
mechanism is a major contributor to economic dynamism, there are often reasons to go well beyond
what the markets will do. Public education is an important example. As Adam Smith - the great
theorist of market economics - remarked, we have to take note of the fact that "for a very small
expence the publick can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body
of the people, the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education."
Basic education, in particular female education, is also associated with many other social
changes, such as reduction of child mortality and a rapid fall in fertility rates. The latter is, in fact,
an important test case of the role of freedom, which relates to a confrontation between Condorcet's
(pro-freedom) and Malthus's (anti-freedom) arguments, almost exactly two hundred years ago.
It was Condorcet, the French mathematician (and Enlightenment thinker), who first pointed
to the possibility that the size of the population can quite conceivably "surpass their means of
subsistence." Malthus's more famous expression of this fear came later, with plentiful quotations
from Condorcet. But Condorcet had gone on to argue that the hypothetical eventuality he had
identified was not likely to occur because it would be countered by freely chosen declines in fertility
rates, resulting from more education (including more female education) and "the progress of
reason." Malthus totally rejected Condorcet's argument, and insisted that nothing short of
compulsion will make people reduce fertility rates. In the Condorcet-Malthus debates we see a
6 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776,
republished, eds., R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), I.ii (p. 27),
and V.i.f (p. 785).
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"ocrText": "Page 5\nFreedom and Our Future\nMemorandum for the President\nAmartya Sen, February 25, 2000\nto develop to appreciate the protective power of democracy.\nFreedom and the Population Problem\nDevelopment calls for the simultaneous use of many institutions. Even though the market\nmechanism is a major contributor to economic dynamism, there are often reasons to go well beyond\nwhat the markets will do. Public education is an important example. As Adam Smith - the great\ntheorist of market economics - remarked, we have to take note of the fact that \"for a very small\nexpence the publick can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body\nof the people, the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education.\"\nBasic education, in particular female education, is also associated with many other social\nchanges, such as reduction of child mortality and a rapid fall in fertility rates. The latter is, in fact,\nan important test case of the role of freedom, which relates to a confrontation between Condorcet's\n(pro-freedom) and Malthus's (anti-freedom) arguments, almost exactly two hundred years ago.\nIt was Condorcet, the French mathematician (and Enlightenment thinker), who first pointed\nto the possibility that the size of the population can quite conceivably \"surpass their means of\nsubsistence.\" Malthus's more famous expression of this fear came later, with plentiful quotations\nfrom Condorcet. But Condorcet had gone on to argue that the hypothetical eventuality he had\nidentified was not likely to occur because it would be countered by freely chosen declines in fertility\nrates, resulting from more education (including more female education) and \"the progress of\nreason.\" Malthus totally rejected Condorcet's argument, and insisted that nothing short of\ncompulsion will make people reduce fertility rates. In the Condorcet-Malthus debates we see a\n6 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776,\nrepublished, eds., R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), I.ii (p. 27),\nand V.i.f (p. 785)."
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