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In "Share the spoils of globalisation" by Lydia Lim ST13/9, Lim captures the essence of the recent local lecture by nobel economics laureate Michael Spence quite well, in particular from the Singapore perspective. Some pointers that maybe of interest:
Economic growth is good only to the extent that it transforms people's lives for the better. Growth is never an end in itself, but rather it is the means to poverty reduction, human development, health, the opportunity to work and be creative.
Government needs to be fully alive to the distribution challenge whether it be food, income, or other spoils of economic growth. Policies to ensure inclusiveness must be integral to any country's growth policy and not an add-on.
Spence defined "inclusiveness" as reasonable equality of opportunity, reasonable equity of outcomes - in terms of incomes and access to basic services - and reasonable routes of protection from the adverse effects of the markets working.
Much thought needs to go into the design of distributive policies to ensure they do not inadvertently undermine the work ethic. But the critics of Globalisation are right to say that some of its effects are perverse, especially on vulnerable workers who missed out on opportunities to acquire the skills and education needed to compete in today's fast-changing world. Government needs to step in to address those distortions.
Economic growth is good only to the extent that it transforms people's lives for the better. Growth is never an end in itself, but rather it is the means to poverty reduction, human development, health, the opportunity to work and be creative.
Government needs to be fully alive to the distribution challenge whether it be food, income, or other spoils of economic growth. Policies to ensure inclusiveness must be integral to any country's growth policy and not an add-on.
Spence defined "inclusiveness" as reasonable equality of opportunity, reasonable equity of outcomes - in terms of incomes and access to basic services - and reasonable routes of protection from the adverse effects of the markets working.
Much thought needs to go into the design of distributive policies to ensure they do not inadvertently undermine the work ethic. But the critics of Globalisation are right to say that some of its effects are perverse, especially on vulnerable workers who missed out on opportunities to acquire the skills and education needed to compete in today's fast-changing world. Government needs to step in to address those distortions.
