While I am interested both in economics and in philosophy, the union of my interests in the two fields far exceeds their intersection.

I think education has a bigger impact on the lives of people than absolutely anything else.

You have to be interested in inequality. The issue of inequality and that of poverty are not separable.

Education makes human beings more articulate. It transforms people. You can think differently about the world. It makes it possible for you to get jobs. It makes a dramatic difference. It generates a social equity that we need.

I remain instinctively hostile to communitarian philosophy and communitarian politics.

The elimination of ignorance, of illiteracy... and of needless inequalities in opportunities (is) to be seen as objectives that are valued for their own sake. They expand our freedom to lead the lives we have reason to value, and these elementary capabilities are of importance on their own

It’s scandalous when one thinks about the people who live in a world in which they need not be hungry, in which they need not die without medical care, in which they need not be illiterate, they need not feel hopeless and miserable so much of the time, and yet they are.