Social inequality

The article summarizes the main points discussed at the ,,Social Inequality " seminar held by the Czech Economic Association in June 1999. The seminar was devoted to Professor Amartya Sen, the winner of 1998 Nobel Prize in Eco nomics. Dr. Michaela Erbenova (Komercni banka) started with an introductory note on Professor Sen, whose work covers a wide range of topics, from axio matic theory of collective choice to the empirical study of famines and the construction of poverty indexes. The main speaker, Dr. Jiri Vecernik (Depa rtment of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences), discussed the problems of measurement of poverty, and presented results of empirical studies on pover ty in Central and Eastern Europe. Discussion focused on a wide range of top ics, including ,,regional differentiation of poverty" and ,,grey economy an d poverty".