Bicycles are not a common tool in economic science, but Amartya Sen’s bicycle played a role in his research.

A large part of his work is concerned with the conditions of the poorest members of society and how these can be improved. In a study on differences between baby girls and boys, Sen employed an assistant to weigh the children. Problems arose when the children did not want to weighed and bit the assistant. The episode ended with Amartya Sen bicycling through the countryside of West Bengal, weighing the children himself.

Amartya Sen was awarded the prize in economic sciences in 1998 for his studies of social choice, welfare measurement and poverty research.