Master of puppets

Amartya Sen is all over the media, having just published a new book called "The idea of justice". In an interview to a newspaper, Amartya Sen offers the following example (via RealityCheck):

Three children — Anne, Bob and Carla — are quarrelling over a flute: Anne claims the flute on the ground that she is the only one of the three who knows how to play it; Bob demands it on the basis that he is so poor that — unlike others — he has no other toys to play with and it would therefore mean a lot to him if the flute were given to him; and Carla says that it belongs to her because she has made it with her own labour.

The important thing to note here is that none of the claimants questions their rival’s argument but claims that his or hers is the most persuasive. So, who deserves the flute?

Should it go to the child for whom it represents the only source of entertainment as he has no other toys to play with? Or to the one who can actually make practical use of it; or to the child to whom it must belong by virtue of her “right” to the fruits of her labour? (emphasis added)

Okay, this is a made-up story. Why doesn't Prof. Sen make the Anne character break out into an impromptu performance of The Internationale? Alternately, why doesn't Bob suddenly start quoting Marx?