Sir Hans Singer Research Articles

The Life and Work of Professor Sir Hans Singer: An Appreciation

ABSTRACT Hans Singer, who died on 26 February 2006 at the age of 95, was one of the most highly respected and internationally recognized development economists. He was one of that small band of pioneers who stimulated so many ideas that engaged the attention of the world community over much of the last century. As an economic activist, few people have been such indefatigable thinkers about the problems of developing countries and persistent instigators of ways of overcoming them. Instinctively practical rather than ideological he based his theoretical work on observations, not dogma. He was one of the main intellectual architects of post-war development strategies. Educated under the two great economists, Schumpeter and Keynes, he studied unemployment and poverty first hand in Britain in the 1930s, and helped establish the United Nations Department of Economic Affairs. He went on to devote his life not just to the academic study of development economics and the problems of developing countries but also to finding practical solutions. The scale, dimension, and diversity of his 450 publications, produced over seven decades, are truly remarkable. Among his numerous positions and contributions, he was a member of the CJDS Advisory Board for many years. This appreciation attempts to summarize his main achievements.

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Ronaldo Munck, Contemporary Latin America Carmen Diana Deere and Magdalene León, Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America Annelies Zoomers and Gemma van der Haar (eds), Current Land Policy in Latin America: Regulating Land Tenure under Neo‐liberalism Annelies Zoomers (ed.), Land and Sustainable Livelihood in Latin America Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani (eds), Civil Society: History and Possibilities Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty (eds), Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India Ha‐Joon Chang, Globalization, Economic Development and the Role of the State Yilmaz Akyüz (ed.), Developing Countries and World Trade: Performance and Prospects George Monbiot, The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order Paul Kennedy, Dirk Messner and Franz Nuscheler (eds), Global Trends and Global Governance Paulette Goudge, The Whiteness of Power: Racism in Third World Development and Aid John Clark (ed.), Globalizing Civic Engagement: Civil Society and Transnational Action Julian Le Grand, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens Richard Robison and Vedi R. Hadiz, Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets Sara Oldfield (ed.), The Trade in Wildlife: Regulation for Conservation Patricia L. Howard (ed.), Women & Plants: Gender Relations in Biodiversity Management and Conservation Ernest Aryeetey, Julius Court, Machiko Nissanke and Beatrice Weder (eds), Asia and Africa in the Global Economy Jane I. Guyer, Marginal Gains. Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa Amanda Hammar, Brian Raftopoulos and Stig Jensen (eds), Zimbabwe's Unfinished Business: Rethinking Land, State and Nation in the Context of Crisis D. John Shaw, Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist

Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist

Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist

Sir hans Singer: the life and Work of a Development Economist

Sir hans Singer: the life and Work of a Development Economist

D. John Shaw. Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist. Basingstoke, England, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 349. $85.00 (cloth).

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsD. John Shaw. Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist. Basingstoke, England, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 349. $85.00 (cloth).Anand ChandavarkarAnand ChandavarkarWashington, D.C. Search for more articles by this author Washington, D.C.PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 52, Number 1October 2003 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/377323 Views: 7Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the University of Chicago Press, Permissions Department, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637‐2954.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Sir Hans Singer: the Life and Work of a Development Economist by D. JOHN SHAW (London: Palgrave‐Macmillan, 2002, pp. 349)

<i>Sir Hans Singer: the Life and Work of a Development Economist</i> by D. JOHN SHAW (London: Palgrave‐Macmillan, 2002, pp. 349)

Capturing All Our Histories: The Biography of Sir Hans Singer

Book reviewed in this article:D. John Shaw, Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist

The Prebisch-Singer thesis: a thesis for the new millennium? Introduction

The papers contained in this Policy Arena are revised versions of papers originally presented at the University of Innsbruck in Austria on 10th October 1997 at the conference that was convened to celebrate the award to Professor Sir Hans Singer of an honorary doctoral degree of the University in recognition of his outstanding contributions to economic science in general and to the study of economic development in particular. As editors we are indebted to the conference participants (including Sir Hans) for their many helpful comments and suggestions. Particular thanks are due to Dr Richard Hule and Dr Herbert Stocker of the University of Innsbruck and Professor Kunibert Raffer of the University of Vienna for their detailed incisive written comments on the papers as presented at the conference. Although space constraints prevent us from including these documents in this collection, copies are available from the editors upon request. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Helping southern net food importers after the Uruguay round: A proposal

Net food importing countries in the South are identified as losers of the Uruguay Round, having to face both rising prices for imported food and falling prices for tropical agricultural products. Cereal prices have already increased dramatically since the signing of the Agreement on Agriculture. In line with official decisions the World Trade Organization is presently exploring ways to help these countries. Based on Sir Hans Singer's understanding of the role of food aid, this paper proposes a compensatory Food Import Facility administered by the World Trade Organization to help net food importers in accordance with the Agreement on Agriculture.

The World Bank, “Global Keynesianism” and the distribution of the gains from growth

The paper uses a simple North-South model to demonstrate that the impact of increases in financial flows from North to South (such as aid) on economic welfare in both North and South depend on the level of aid effectiveness and on the manner in which such aid increases are financed. In the special case of World Bank lending to developing countries, we argue — following the lead of Sir Hans Singer — for a switching of the Bank's operations away from lending on commercial (IBRD) terms into concessional (IDA) credits, conditioned on proven developmental policies including support for agricultural research, primary health and education and performance-related protection.

Economic development and policy: Professor Sir Hans Singer's contributions to development economics

This paper provides a brief overview of Hans Singer's contributions to the subject of development economics and introduces readers to the individual essays which make up this special section published in honour of Sir Hans.