Enriching the informational base of democracy and making greater use of interactive public reasoning can contribute significantly to making democracy more workable, and also allow reasoned assessment of social welfare.

In addition to fortifying women with more choices and freedoms in areas like education, healthcare and nutrition, I think that one of the most powerful ways to expedite "a better future for all" is to give women greater economic freedom and opportunities.

Three of the major factors in the basic oppression of women in the developing world are child labor, child marriage and gender-based violence. Getting girls into primary school and giving them the opportunity for secondary education are important tools for addressing these sources of vulnerability.

In the run up to the European parliamentary elections next month, anti-Europe populists, such as Marine Le Pen's National Front in France, have been fanning the nationalist flames by telling voters that two leading left-of center Nobel laureates in economics -- Amartya Sen and Joe Stiglitz -- oppose a more united Europe.

You worked hard for that money. No one can deny that. You have been rewarded for your talent, your intelligence, your risk-taking, your creativity, and your good fortune. The notion that you should change a system that has worked so well must seem downright stupid.