UNICEF, Economists and Economic Policy:
Bringing children into development strategies
Richard Jolly^13
rom as early as 1947, UNICEF recognized the importance of
economic policy for children and has sought the help of
development economists in mapping out what this mightinvolve. Indeed, at least two Nobel Prize winners in economics
have contributed ideas and advice to UNICEF – and with the
recent participation of Joe Stiglitz the number is raised to three.^14
This may come as a surprise to many members of the economic
profession, who are often unaware of children’s issues and, when
aware, tend to think of the issues as primarily those of calculating
the rates of return on education or finding the resources needed to
pay for health, education and other social services.
Long history of policy engagement
The early years
The first encounter came in 1947. Maurice Pate, UNICEF’s first
executive director, approached David Owen, head of the UN’s
Economic Affairs Department, with the request that one of the
economists in his department might undertake a study on children
and economic development. UNICEF was about to be transformed
from a UN emergency agency for children to one dealing with
children’s long-run needs. David Owen passed the request to Hans
Singer in the development section of his department. Hans was
busy at the time working on his study of the long-run terms of trade
and put the request to the side. Hans has even had the frankness in
(^13) Sir Richard Jolly is Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies
(IDS) and former Assistant Secretary General UNICEF
(^14) The three are Jan Tinbergen, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz