Paul Streeten

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Paul Patrick Streeten (born July 18, 1917 as Paul Hornig in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; died January 6, 2019 in Princeton , United States ) was a British development economist of Austrian origin.

Life

Paul Streeten grew up in an intellectual environment. Politically active in public and underground, he emigrated to Great Britain in 1938 after the annexation of Austria to Germany and began studying political economy in Aberdeen . After the start of World War II , he was interned in camps in England and Canada and eventually released on condition that he join the Royal Pioneer Corps . In the invasion of Sicily , Streeten was badly wounded and returned to Aberdeen. 1944 passed his Master of Arts there.

From 1948 to 1966, Streeten was a fellow at Balliol College , Oxford . In 1964 he was appointed Deputy Director-General of Economic Planning at the Ministry of Overseas Development, later he was appointed Director of the Institute of Development Studies and Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex . In 1979, Streeten settled in the United States, first becoming director of the Overseas Development Institute, Washington, then Professor of Economics at Boston University and, until retirement, director of the World Development Institute. He was also twice head of the Economic Development Institute at the World Bank and worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), where he was involved in the publication of the "Human Development Report". Streeten died in early 2019 at the age of 101.

Services

Streeten was the author and editor of more than 20 books and about 300 articles in books and journals. He was editor of the academic journals Oxford Economic Papers , the Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Development Studies .

Paul Streeten criticized Samuelson's orthodoxy , particularly the methodology and microeconomics of this new orthodoxy. Much “is not appropriate to the changing circumstances of life; it neglects its self-verifying or -falsifying effects on reality, which it too often misrepresents; it conceals value judgments which, if made clear, would not be accepted. In the postulate of a value-free social science, that there is an internally determined economic system that is moved by one-dimensional economic actors, there is - says Streeten - a threefold error: a moral, a political and a scientific one. In real life, morality, politics and economics are closely interwoven, politics with more or less morality, but economics never without politics. "

Streeten criticized neoclassical theory and positivist philosophy. With Thomas Balogh he wrote papers on the weaknesses of the elasticity concept (cf. The Coefficient of Ignorance , 1963). He criticized Nicholas Kaldor ( Values, Facts and the Compensation Principle ). Streeten's most important contribution, by his own account, was Programs and Prognoses (1954). He translated Gunnar Myrdal's most important philosophical work The Political Element in Economic Doctrine Formation .

Development economics

"The neoclassical school shares with development economics the assumption of mutual advantages from the economic relations between north and south, industrialized and developing countries, but also claims that a single economic way of thinking is sufficient that can be applied to all countries at any time ('monoeconomics' ). The dependency theorists, on the other hand, agree with the development economists that a single economic way of thinking is not enough for the large number of countries in the world, but reject the idea of ​​the possible mutual benefits from the economic relations between North and South. "

Streeten advocated that development policy should primarily meet the basic needs of the poor. These include food and clean water, work and safety, education and health, housing and mobility; but also non-material needs for self-determination, self-reliance, participation, national and cultural identity. This can also be achieved without a growing gross national product, just as a high growth rate in the gross national product can ignore these needs.

Honors

Works

  • Programs and forecasts. In: Quarterly Journal of Economics. Volume 68, 1954, pp. 355-376; German: programs and forecasts. In: Gérard Gäfgen (Ed.): Fundamentals of economic policy. Cologne / Berlin 1968, pp. 53-74.
  • Unbalanced Growth. In: Oxford Economic Papers 11/1959/2. 1959, pp. 167-190.
  • Economic integration. Aspects and Problems. Leiden 1961.
  • The Frontiers of Development Studies. London, Basingstoke 1972.
  • (with SJ Burki, M. ul Haq and others): First Things First. Meeting Basic Human Needs in the Developing Countries . New York / Oxford 1981.
  • Environmental Aspects of Development. In: Economy and Society. 8/1982/2. 1982, pp. 415-427.
  • Development dichotomies. In: GM Meier, D. Seers (Ed.): Pioneers in Development. Washington, Oxford 1984.
  • Aerial roots. In: Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review. No. 157, 1986, pp. 135-159.
  • Changing Emphases in Development Theory. In: UE Simonis (Ed.): Development Theory - Development Practice. A critical accounting. Berlin 1986, pp. 13-39.
  • (with PB Doeringer): How Economic Institutions Affect Economic Performance. In: World Development. 18/1990/9, pp. 1249-1253.
  • Thinking about Development. Cambridge 1995.

Translations

  • Gunnar Myrdal : The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory. Translated from the German by Paul Streeten. 2nd edition, London, 1955. Therein: Paul Streeten: Recent Controversies. Pp. 208-217.
  • Gunnar Myrdal: Value in Social Theory. A Selection of Essays on Methodology. Edited by Paul Streeten. London 1958.

literature

  • In: Harald Hagemann , Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.): Biographical handbook of German-speaking economic emigration after 1933. Volume 2: Leichter branch. Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-11284-X , pp. 699-703.
  • Sanjaya Lall, Frances Stewart (Eds.): Theory and Reality in Development. Essays in Honor of Paul Streeten. Basingstoke, London 1986
  • Hugh Stretton: An Appreciation. In: Sanjaya Lall, Frances Stewart (Eds.): Theory and Reality in Development. Essays in Honor of Paul Streeten. Basingstoke, London 1986
  • Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Eds.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933–1945 . Volume 2.2. Saur, Munich 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , pp. 1141f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Udo E. Simonis: Paul Streeten (* 1917). Development in a social, political and cultural context. (No longer available online.) In: D + Z Development and Cooperation . July 7/8 / August 2000, pp. 204-207 , archived from the original on July 200501 ; accessed on January 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Paul Patrick Streeten. Balliol College, University of Oxford, January 9, 2019, accessed January 11, 2019 .
  3. ^ Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Editorial Board. journals.elsevier.com, accessed October 1, 2015 .
  4. ^ Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. Global Development And Environment Institute , May 24, 2018, accessed January 12, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Streeten, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hornig, Paul (maiden name); Streeten, Paul Patrick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British development economist of Austrian origin
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 2019
Place of death Princeton