Amartya Sen, the Indian economist and Nobel Laureate (1998), articulated the 'Development as Freedom' framework in his landmark 1999 book of the same name. He argued that development should be understood as the expansion of real freedoms people enjoy — including political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security. This approach influenced the UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) and reoriented development economics beyond GDP growth.