Hans Singer

Hans Singer

Sir Hans Wolfgang Singer (29 November 1910 – 26 February 2006) was a development economist best known for the Singer-Prebisch thesis, which states that the terms of trade move against producers of primary products. He is one of the primary figures of heterodox economics.

Biography

Singer was born in Elberfeld, Germany in 1910. A German Jew, Singer had intended to become a medical doctor before being inspired to study economics after attending a series of lectures by prominent economists Joseph Schumpeter and Arthur Spiethoff in Bonn. Singer fled the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, arriving in the United Kingdom as a refugee. In 1933, Schumpeter convinced John Maynard Keynes of Cambridge University to accept Singer as one of his first PhD candidates, and Singer received his doctorate in 1936. Under Keynes, he produced two papers in 1937 and 1940 studying unemployment. Keynes also helped secure Singer's speedy release after his former student was interned by the British government at the start of the Second World War. In 1938, Singer applied for British citizenship, listing as references Keynes, William Beveridge, William Temple and the vice-chancellor of Manchester University. His request was granted in 1946.

In 1947, he was one of the first three economists to join the new Economics Department of the United Nations, in which he remained for the next two decades. During his time at the United Nations, Singer was the Director of the Economic Division of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and was closely involved in the creation of the Bretton Woods Framework and the post-World War II international financial institutions.

He published a 1950 empirical study examining the costs of international trade, drawing criticism from fellow economists Jacob Viner and Gottfried Haberler. The led to his famous co-credit with Raul Prebisch for the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis, the treatment of which is standard in university texts on economic development. However, the two economists did not collaborate, having come to similar conclusions separately. Singer's supporters are quick to point out that it appears that Singer wrote down the thesis before the more well-known Prebisch. The fundamental insight of the hypothesis is that, in a world system in which poorer nations specialize in primary products such as raw minerals and agricultural products that are then shipped to industrialized nations that, in turn, make advanced products to be sold to poorer nations, all of the benefits of international trade will go to the wealthy nations.

As a result of this deduction, Singer was a passionate advocate for increased foreign aid, in a variety of forms, to the developing world to offset the disproportionate gain to developed nations through trade. He attempted to create a 'soft-loan' fund, which offers loans at interest rates below the free market, to be administered by the United Nations, but was systematically blocked by the United States and the United Kingdom, who wished to retain control of money flowing out of the UN. He was thus considered "one of the wild men of the UN" by Eugene R. Black of the World Bank and American Senator Eugene McCarthy. His ideas were influential in the establishment of the Bank's International Development Association, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Food Programme.

Fellow economist Sir Alec Cairncross has said of Singer that "There are few of the developing countries that he has not visited and still fewer that he has not advised. He must have addressed a wider variety of academics and a wider variety of places about a wider variety of subjects than any other economist, living or dead." Singer, like Prebisch, was influential on Neo-Marxist development theorists such as Paul Baran and Andre Gunder Frank. However, he was not normally considered a Neo-Marxist himself, nor did he consider himself one.

In 1969, he left the UN to join the influential Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in England. He produced about 30 books under his name and nearly 300 other publications. Singer was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994. In 2001 the UN World Food Program awarded him the Food for Life award in recognition of his contribution to the battle against world hunger. [http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/press_releases/2001/1123a.htm] In November 2004, Singer was awarded the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Development Studies Association. [http://www.devstud.org.uk/conference/lifetime-award.htm]

Singer died in Brighton, UK on 26 February 2006.

References

* Shaw, John, "Sir Hans W. Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist", Palgrave MacMillan, 2002 ISBN 0-333-71130-0
* Singer, Hans Wolfgang and John-Ren Chen, "Development Economics and Policy: The Conference Volume to Celebrate the 85th Birthday of Professor Sir Hans Singer" Palgrave MacMillan, 1998. ISBN 0-312-21041-8

External links

* [http://www.economyprofessor.com/theorists/hanssinger.php Hans Singer] , EconomyProfessor.com
* [http://blds.ids.ac.uk/archive/singer.html Singer archive] at the British Library for Development Studies
* [http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2008/issue1/0108p42.html UN Chronicle biography]

Obituaries

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1720289,00.html The Guardian] obituary by Richard Jolly
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2061164,00.html The Times]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article349083.ece The Independent] obituary by John Toye (subscription only)
* [http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?subjectid=348996&story_id=5601530 The Economist] (subscription only)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hans Singer — ist der Name folgender Personen: Hans Singer (Stuckateur) (18. Jahrhundert), Tiroler Stuckateur Hans Singer (Chemiker) (1921–1979), deutscher Chemiker Hans Wolfgang Singer (Kunsthistoriker) (1867–1957), deutscher Kunsthistoriker Hans Wolfgang… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Singer (Chemiker) — Hans Singer (* 17. Dezember 1921 in Berlin; † 6. Juli 1979) war ein deutscher Chemiker, Widerstandskämpfer gegen den Nationalsozialismus und Funktionär in der DDR. Leben Singer wurde als Sohn des späteren Intendanten der Städtischen Oper Berlin,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Singer (Stuckateur) — Hans Singer ist ab 1730 als in Schwaz (Tirol) ansässiger Stuckateur nachgewiesen. Ein Gemeinschaftsbetrieb, zusammen mit seinem Bruder, dem Baumeister Jakob Singer, war zunächst zunächst mit der Barockisierung existierender Kirchen befasst.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Singer (Familienname) — Singer ist ein Familienname. Bekannte Namensträger Inhaltsverzeichnis A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Singer (surname) — Singer is a surname and may refer to: * Addie Singer, fictional character from the TV show Unfabulous * Bryan Singer, film director * Burns Singer * Charles Singer * Edgar Arthur Singer (1873 195?), American philosopher * Eric Singer * Fred… …   Wikipedia

  • Hans Wolfgang Singer (Ökonom) — Sir Hans Wolfgang Singer (* 29. November 1910 in Wuppertal Elberfeld; † 26. Februar 2006 in Brighton, Großbritannien) war ein aus Deutschland stammender international anerkannter Ökonom. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Schriften 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Singer-Prebisch thesis — The Singer Prebisch thesis (often referred to as the Prebisch Singer thesis or sometimes the Prebisch Singer hypothesis) is the observation that the terms of trade between primary products and manufactured goods tend to deteriorate over time.… …   Wikipedia

  • Singer — 1. Berufsname oder Übername zu mhd. singжre »Sänger, lyrischer Dichter, Kantor, Domherr«. 2. Herkunftsname auf er zu dem Ortsnamen Singen (Baden Württemberg, Thüringen). Hans Singer ist a. 1419þ1431 in Nürnberg überliefert …   Wörterbuch der deutschen familiennamen

  • Hans Klöpfer — Hans Kloepfer (* 18. August 1867 in Eibiswald, Steiermark; † 27. Juni 1944 in Köflach) war ein österreichischer Arzt und Schriftsteller, der vor allem durch seine weststeirische Mundartdichtung Popularität erlangte. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Kunz — (* 24. Mai 1904 in Trimbach SO; † 27. April 1982 in Basel) war ein Schweizer Philosoph, Psychologe und Botaniker. Er verfasste einflussreiche philosophische Abhandlungen und entdeckte mehrere neue Pflanzenarten. Sein offizielles botanisches… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”