Hans Wolfgang Singer, development economist, died on February 26 2006. Singer's best known work relates to the declining terms of trade experienced by developing countries. First published in 1949, it tracked the long-term decline in terms of trade between developing and developed countries and...

This paper reviews experience since governments first began, through the United Nations, setting time-bound quantitative goals to serve as guidelines and benchmarks for national and international action and development assistance. It argues that, contrary to much opinion, many of these goals...