Hans singer: the gentle giant of UN economists.

AuthorJolly, Richard

Of the many economists who have worked for the United Nations, Hans W. Singer was the one who did more, and for more different parts of the Organization, than any other.(1) During his 22-year career with the United Nations, he worked for the Economic Affairs Department (now DESA), helped lay the foundations for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through his work on the UN Special Fund and the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA), undertook assignments for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), provided the intellectual rationale for the World Food Programme (WFP) and also spent time with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

In fact, this part of Singer's work for the United Nations was mid-career. Before he joined the Organization in 1947, at age 37, he was already well established in the British university world, having held positions in economics in Manchester and Glasgow, as well as undertaking a diversity of research activities. After he retired from the United Nations in 1969 at 59, he embarked on the third and longest phase of his economic career, joining the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, where, in addition to research and other writing, he continued to use his skills for the UN--this time for an even wider circle, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)*, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), UNDP, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as to the Commonwealth secretariat and many individual Governments. He gave his final lecture at IDS--on the origins of the 0.7-per-cent target for aid--a week before his 95th birthday. His last article--a tribute to Brazilian economist Celso Furtado--was published shortly before he died peacefully at age 95 in February 2006.

Whatever he turned to, Singer's creativity and versatility came to the fore, moving from careful analysis of the issues underlying major problems to proposals for policy and institutional development to ensure long-run solutions. But he was no hidden-away expert. His ability to establish and maintain close working...

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