Hans Singer

Bio: Hans Singer is an academic researcher from University of Sussex. The author has contributed to research in topics: Terms of trade & Developing country. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 67 publications receiving 3093 citations. Previous affiliations of Hans Singer include Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

The Distribution of Gains between Investing and Borrowing Countries

Abstract: International trade is of very considerable importance to underdeveloped countries, and the benefits which they derive from trade and any variations in their trade affect their national incomes very deeply. The opposite view, which is frequent among economists, namely that trade is less important to the underdeveloped countries than it is to industrialized countries, may be said to derive from a logical confusion — very easy to slip into — between the absolute amount of foreign trade, which is known to be an increasing function of national income, and the ratio of foreign trade to national income. Foreign trade tends to be proportionately most important when incomes are lowest. Second, fluctuations in the volume and value of foreign trade tend to be proportionately more violent in trade of underdeveloped countries and therefore a fortiori also more important in relation to national income. Third, and a fortissimo, fluctuations in foreign trade tend to be immensely more important for underdeveloped countries in relation to that small margin of income over subsistence needs which forms the source of capital formation, for which they often depend on export surpluses over consumption goods required from abroad.

Dualism revisited: A new approach to the problems of the dual society in developing countries†

Abstract: Dualism in the sense of persistent and increasing divergencies exists on various levels, internationally in relations between richer and poorer countries, and internally within the developing countries themselves. The following article focuses mainly on the internal dualism and growing inequalities within the developing countries, but links these to growing international inequalities in command over modern science and technology. Tendencies within the field of science and technology, including their increasing capital intensity and their increasing dominance by the needs of the richer countries and lack of direct relevance for the needs of developing countries are closely associated with growing unemployment and under-employment in various forms within the developing countries. More and more the relevant forms of dualistic fission run along the line of employed versus unemployed rather than the more traditional distinctions between rural and urban sectors, traditional versus modern sectors, etc. The tendency for technological developments to produce internal dualism in the underdeveloped countries is further strengthened by a number of factors, including the association of modern technology with foreign investment.

The Foreign Aid Business: Economic Assistance and Development Co-Operation

Abstract: Offering an analysis of aid and development finance, this work examines the key issues and new trends in aid as well as proposing a series of improvements. Distinguishing clearly between "aid" and "help" in development finance, the authors discuss aid in the context of other North-South flows, such as trade or debt service, and describe its role and evolution during the Cold War. It addresses issues such as food aid, the European Union's Lome co-operation, Japan's emergence as the largest donor and its specific aid philosophy, the question of South-South aid, and the role of non-governmental organizations. The trends analyzed in the book include political conditionality, the UNDP's proposal to reorient aid towards human development and the question of aid diversion to the former communist countries. It concludes by proposing a series of reforms for development aid and finance. The authors advocate major improvements which include combining emergency and development aid, the financial accountability of donors, international insolvency to stop aid bailing-out creditors, and the emulation of the Marshall plan's self-monitoring by recipients.

The myopia of learning

Abstract: Organizational learning has many virtues, virtues which recent writings in strategic management have highlighted. Learning processes, however, are subject to some important limitations. As is well-known, learning has to cope with confusing experience and the complicated problem of balancing the competing goals of developing new knowledge (i.e., exploring) and exploiting current competencies in the face of dynamic tendencies to emphasize one or the other. We examine the ways organizations approach these problems through simplification and specialization and how those approaches contribute to three forms of learning myopia, the tendency to overlook distant times, distant places, and failures, and we identify some ways in which organizations sustain exploration in the face of a tendency to overinvest in exploitation. We conclude that the imperfections of learning are not so great as to require abandoning attempts to improve the learning capabilities of organizations, but that those imperfections suggest a certain conservatism in expectations.

Myopia of learning

Abstract: Organizational learning has many virtues, virtues which recent writings in strategic management have highlighted. Learning processes, however, are subject to some important limitations. As is well-known, learning has to cope with confusing experience and the complicated problem of balancing the competing goals of developing new knowledge (i.e., exploring) and exploiting current competencies in the face of dynamic tendencies to emphasize one or the other. We examine the ways organizations approach these problems through simplification and specialization and how those approaches contribute to three forms of learning myopia, the tendency to overlook distant times, distant places, and failures, and we identify some ways in which organizations sustain exploration in the face of a tendency to overinvest in exploitation. We conclude that the imperfections of learning are not so great as to require abandoning attempts to improve the learning capabilities of organizations, but that those imperfections suggest a certain conservatism in expectations.

Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth

Abstract: One of the surprising features of modern economic growth is that economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than natural-resource-scarce economies. In this paper we show that economies with a high ratio of natural resource exports to GDP in 1971 (the base year) tended to have low growth rates during the subsequent period 1971-89. This negative relationship holds true even after controlling for variables found to be important for economic growth, such as initial per capita income, trade policy, government efficiency, investment rates, and other variables. We explore the possible pathways for this negative relationship by studying the cross-country effects of resource endowments on trade policy, bureaucratic efficiency, and other determinants of growth. We also provide a simple theoretical model of endogenous growth that might help to explain the observed negative relationship.

The Political Economy of the Resource Curse

Abstract: How does a state's natural resource wealth influence its economic development? For the past fifty years, versions of this question have been explored by both economists and political scientists. New research suggests that resource wealth tends to harm economic growth, yet there is little agreement on why this occurs. This article reviews a wide range of recent attempts in both economics and political science to explain the “resource curse.” It suggests that much has been learned about the economic problems of resource exporters but less is known about their political problems. The disparity between strong findings on economic matters and weak findings on political ones partly reflects the failure of political scientists to carefully test their own theories.