Paul Singer

Paul Israel Singer (24 March 1932 – 16 April 2018) was an Austrian-born Brazilian economist and scholar. Early life Paul Singer was born into a family of small Jewish merchants based in , a working-class suburb of Vienna. In 1938, after the German annexation of Austria, and the beginning of persecution of the Jews, the family decided to emigrate. In 1940, they settled in São Paulo Brazil where they already had some relatives. In 1948 he joined the Dror kibbutz movement (current Habonim Dror). In 1951 Singer graduated in electrotechnology at Getúlio Vargas Technical School in São Paulo, practicing his profession between 1952 and 1956. During this period, Singer joined the Metalworkers' Union of São Paulo. As a metalworker, he led a 300,000 workers' strike, which paralyzed the industry of São Paulo for more than a month in 1953. Singer became a Brazilian citizen in 1954. Academic and political career Later, he studied economics at the University of São Paulo, at the same time that he developed political activity in the Brazilian Socialist Party. Singer graduated in 1959, in the same year he participated in the founding of Polop, a political organization made up of members of the left wing of the PSB. In 1960, Singer began his teaching at USP, as an assistant professor. In 1966, he obtained a PhD in Sociology with a study on economic development and its territorial developments, addressing five Brazilian cities - São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Blumenau, Porto Alegre and Recife - at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences. The thesis gave rise to the book Economic Development and Urban Evolution, under the guidance of Professor Florestan Fernandes.