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Forebears and Roots

In: Sir Hans Singer

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  • D. John Shaw

Abstract

In his presidential address to the United Kingdom Development Studies Association in 1990, Singer identified Adam Smith as the ‘forebear of Development Studies’ (Carty and Singer,1993a, pp. 26–34). He regards him as a development economist in that Adam Smith believed in the ‘possibility of progress’, however pessimistic we may be about the actual progress achieved. He thought of the progressive state of society as a likely or, indeed, natural outcome, speaking of ‘the natural progress of opulence’ and being enthusiastically in favour of it. Adam Smith stated, ‘The progressive state is in reality the cheerful and the hearty state to all the different orders of the society. The stationary is dull: the declining, melancholy.’ Singer regarded this paradigm of a dynamic state of society, with built-in growth, or in Adam Smith’s words ‘accumulation’, as what established development studies as a separate sub-discipline of economics.

Suggested Citation

  • D. John Shaw, 2002. "Forebears and Roots," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sir Hans Singer, chapter 29, pages 277-280, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-4039-3286-0_29
    DOI: 10.1057/9781403932860_29
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