Wuppertal is an understated locus of ideas, innovation and social reform. In the industrial revolution, it was a centre of weaving and specialist textiles, and later site of the then nascent pharma industry – aspirin was invented here in 1897. It was the home town of Friedrich Engels, scion of a sprawling textile enterprise, a rebel who was expelled from the town after joining the barricades of the 1848 (attempted) revolution. It was also the home of Hans Singer, who was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1933, persecuted for his left-wing views and as a member of a Jewish family. Poignantly, both exiles studied the exploitation of the working class in England. In the 1840s, Engels analysed early capitalism in his book “Die Lage der Arbeitsklasse in England”: Mary Burns, an Irish labourer, had introduced him to the exploitation in the sweatshops and homes of Manchester.
Hans Singer studied unemployment in depressed areas in England in the 1940s, at the invitation of progressive British politicians. Although Singer does not refer to Engels’ work in his study, the parallels are striking. In the symposium, focus was twofold: the origins and impact of Hans Singer’s ideas, and their relevance today.
Harald Hagemann analysed the influence of two major – and contrarian – 20th century economists, John Maynard Keynes and Josef Schumpeter, on Hans Singer. Lucia Raspe of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish Studies examined the effects of fascism on Hans Singer and others in his academic circle in Bonn in the early 1930s. My presentation – linked English and German – began with role of progressive ideas – “ahead of the curve”. I traced the impact of Singer’s ideas, as a heterodox economist, on the UN, where he worked from 1947 to 1969. Singer is most famous among development theorists and practitioners for his evidence on persistent unequal trade relations between rich and poor countries – an expression of exploitation and imperialism, as he noted. The Singer- Prebisch thesis underpins UNCTAD analyses to this day. He was also (one of) the first economist(s) to address the role of children in economic development, with ideas on how to integrate children’s needs into governmental planning. This advice fed into a robust criticism of World Bank and IMF structural adjustment policy. Its impetus lives on in UNICEF country and global research studies, policy advice and programming.
Singer and his colleague Richard Jolly invented the concept of the informal economy which plays a central role in ILO research as well as country-level and global recommendations.
The Symposium also examined the relevance of Singer’s research for current challenges: massive inequality, global warming and the destruction of biodiversity, and the interests of rich economies in rare minerals and energy resources from low income countries. Anne-Katharina Hornidge of the IDOS, Manfred Fischedick of the Wuppertal Institute, and Dieter Bathen of the Johannes Rau Foundation shed light on these issues.
In summing up the day, Mayor Uwe Schneidewind, mover and shaker behind the Symposium, highlighted Singer’s spirit in today’s Wuppertal: a vibrant, multicultural city with numerous creative, progressive eco-social projects.
A summary of the Hans Singer Symposium
The City of Wuppertal, the Johannes Rau Research Community and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy convened a symposium on the legacy of Professor Hans Singer (1910-2006) in early May 2025.
Wuppertal is an understated locus of ideas, innovation and social reform. In the industrial revolution, it was a centre of weaving and specialist textiles, and later site of the then nascent pharma industry – aspirin was invented here in 1897. It was the home town of Friedrich Engels, scion of a sprawling textile enterprise, a rebel who was expelled from the town after joining the barricades of the 1848 (attempted) revolution. It was also the home of Hans Singer, who was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1933, persecuted for his left-wing views and as a member of a Jewish family. Poignantly, both exiles studied the exploitation of the working class in England. In the 1840s, Engels analysed early capitalism in his book “Die Lage der Arbeitsklasse in England”: Mary Burns, an Irish labourer, had introduced him to the exploitation in the sweatshops and homes of Manchester.
Hans Singer studied unemployment in depressed areas in England in the 1940s, at the invitation of progressive British politicians. Although Singer does not refer to Engels’ work in his study, the parallels are striking.
In the symposium, focus was twofold: the origins and impact of Hans Singer’s ideas, and their relevance today.
Harald Hagemann analysed the influence of two major – and contrarian – 20th century economists, John Maynard Keynes and Josef Schumpeter, on Hans Singer. Lucia Raspe of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish Studies examined the effects of fascism on Hans Singer and others in his academic circle in Bonn in the early 1930s. My presentation – linked English and German – began with role of progressive ideas – “ahead of the curve”. I traced the impact of Singer’s ideas, as a heterodox economist, on the UN, where he worked from 1947 to 1969. Singer is most famous among development theorists and practitioners for his evidence on persistent unequal trade relations between rich and poor countries – an expression of exploitation and imperialism, as he noted. The Singer- Prebisch thesis underpins UNCTAD analyses to this day. He was also (one of) the first economist(s) to address the role of children in economic development, with ideas on how to integrate children’s needs into governmental planning. This advice fed into a robust criticism of World Bank and IMF structural adjustment policy. Its impetus lives on in UNICEF country and global research studies, policy advice and programming.
Singer and his colleague Richard Jolly invented the concept of the informal economy which plays a central role in ILO research as well as country-level and global recommendations.
The Symposium also examined the relevance of Singer’s research for current challenges: massive inequality, global warming and the destruction of biodiversity, and the interests of rich economies in rare minerals and energy resources from low income countries. Anne-Katharina Hornidge of the IDOS, Manfred Fischedick of the Wuppertal Institute, and Dieter Bathen of the Johannes Rau Foundation shed light on these issues.
In summing up the day, Mayor Uwe Schneidewind, mover and shaker behind the Symposium, highlighted Singer’s spirit in today’s Wuppertal: a vibrant, multicultural city with numerous creative, progressive eco-social projects.
A note on Hans Singer’s influence follows in due course.
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