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http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/25/singapore-will-tank-because-of-pap’s-addiction/
Conclusion
Academia or least the independent thinking part of it is not enthralled by the PAP’s economic record. It is just the 156th ranked Pravda-in-the Red-Dot did not publish such thinking. If Singapore stayed within its long run growth potential of 2-4% instead of running at 6-7% during PM Lee’s tenure, as the writer repeated ad nauseam, then all these socio-economic problems would not exist today or are much smaller.
Similarly, some economic growth are not worth having if these means more subsidies, tax breaks and foreign labour. Singapore should concentrate on commercial and industrial services in which her advantages are much harder to be competed away by neighbouring countries. More on this in another article.
Nevertheless, the writer is left with a depressing thought. Each successive policy back-tracking back to the extensive growth model, diminishing returns worsened and opportunity costs rose as pointed out by Pang and Lim. The data conforms to research by Paul Romer and others suggesting that
“the availability of abundant cheap labor not only discourages investment in productivity but also reduces innovation and increases income inequality.” (Economist, 2013).
However the Prime Minister seems bent on reinforcing policy failures with his party’s addiction to the easy option of cheap foreign labour evidenced in his NDR speech. More of the same with 6.9m population or even 10m? We have already seen what 5.5m population has caused today. This addiction may well spell the end of Singapore’s existential meaning of citizenship and nationhood.
Chris Kuan
* Chris was regional head of capital markets for Asia Pacific until his retirement. He writes opinions and commentaries mostly on economic and financial matters.
Conclusion
Academia or least the independent thinking part of it is not enthralled by the PAP’s economic record. It is just the 156th ranked Pravda-in-the Red-Dot did not publish such thinking. If Singapore stayed within its long run growth potential of 2-4% instead of running at 6-7% during PM Lee’s tenure, as the writer repeated ad nauseam, then all these socio-economic problems would not exist today or are much smaller.
Similarly, some economic growth are not worth having if these means more subsidies, tax breaks and foreign labour. Singapore should concentrate on commercial and industrial services in which her advantages are much harder to be competed away by neighbouring countries. More on this in another article.
Nevertheless, the writer is left with a depressing thought. Each successive policy back-tracking back to the extensive growth model, diminishing returns worsened and opportunity costs rose as pointed out by Pang and Lim. The data conforms to research by Paul Romer and others suggesting that
“the availability of abundant cheap labor not only discourages investment in productivity but also reduces innovation and increases income inequality.” (Economist, 2013).
However the Prime Minister seems bent on reinforcing policy failures with his party’s addiction to the easy option of cheap foreign labour evidenced in his NDR speech. More of the same with 6.9m population or even 10m? We have already seen what 5.5m population has caused today. This addiction may well spell the end of Singapore’s existential meaning of citizenship and nationhood.
Chris Kuan
* Chris was regional head of capital markets for Asia Pacific until his retirement. He writes opinions and commentaries mostly on economic and financial matters.
