Recent Changes

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SINGAPORE ( 1960s - 2000s )
- 1980s. (BSC)(BSC - Feb)
• Sustaining and opportunities. (BSC)(BSC - Feb)
• Singapore’s strategies for economic development in a globalized world.
• Integration, interdependenceto maximise opportunities and developmentovercome challenges in a global system.
• Economic challenges and strategies to manage global challenges. globalising world (BSC - Apr)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SINGAPORE ( 1960s - 2000s )
Economic Development of Singapore (1960s - 1970s)
of Singapore ( 1970s(1970s - 1980s )1980s)
Sustaining economic growth in a globalised world
Economic challenges and strategies to manage global challenges

of Singapore ( Late(Late 1970s - 1980s )1980s)
Singapore’s economic success since independence has undeniably impressed many international observers. So why was there a need to change Singapore’s economic strategy?
For this lesson, you will work in group of 3-4 members to discuss the specific factors that led to the change in Singapore's economic strategy. At the end of 20 minutes, you will be able to have a summary of the rationale for the Industrial Restructuring.

Economic Development of Singapore (1960s - 1970s)
Economic Development of Singapore ( 1970s - 1980s )
Economic Development of Singapore ( 1980s-1990s )
Sustaining economic growth in a globalised world
Economic challenges and strategies to manage global challenges

Economic Development of Singapore ( Late 1970s - 1980s )
Singapore’s economic success since independence has undeniably impressed many international observers. So why was there a need to change Singapore’s economic strategy?
For this lesson, you will work in group of 3-4 members to discuss the specific factors that led to the change in Singapore's economic strategy. At the end of 20 minutes, you will be able to have a summary of the rationale for the Industrial Restructuring.
1980s: Maturing Economy
Ÿ In 1979, a restructuring and diversification policy changed the industrial base from labour-intensive, low value-added activities to higher technology and skilled or high value-added industries.
Ÿ This was termed the “second industrial revolution” (SIR).
Ÿ As spelled out by the then Minister of Trade and Industry, Goh Chok Tong, the economic strategy was to:
o Replace labour-intensive with knowledge-based industries and services connected with manufacturing, tourism and finance. “Textiles, shoes, furniture – these are subject to high tariffs and import quotas beyond our control. The prime objective of the plan is to develop Singapore into a modern industrial economy based on science, technology, skills and knowledge”.
o The focus now shifted to attracting those high-tech industries that were willing to pay higher wages and that were less labour intensive: computers, integrated circuits, speciality chemical products, and industrial electronic equipment.
Why did Singapore shifted from labour-intensive, low value-added activities to higher technology and skilled or high value-added industries?
Changing nature of manufacturing
The EDB recognized that not only would it become less competitive in the traditional low-value-added manufacturing areas because of rising wages and labor shortages, but manufacturing itself was evolving toward more automation and robotics, where knowledge of the process and skills in maintenance would be the critical labour resource. The EDB leaders and planners could foresee that they needed even higher levels of training and development to be able to attract what increasingly came to be labeled as the manufacturing service sector.
Group 3 & 4 :
1. What were the changing circumstances in Singapore?
2. What was manufacturing evolving towards in the 1980s?
Beginnings of a tight labour market from 1983 Couched as a ‘survival’ economic strategy in the 1960s, the government encouraged families to “Stop at Two (children)” by offering practical incentives and disincentives. Abortion was liberalized and allowed to be carried out in both government and private clinics. Voluntary sterilization was legalized – and with it came a cache of benefits for sterilized parents, including priority in primary school registration (where competition to be enrolled in certain schools is fierce) and the reimbursement of delivery fees. The decades following the start of these policies – notably the 1970s and 80s, saw a dramatic dip in fertility rates.
Group 5 & 6 :
1. What population policy did Singapore adopt in the 1960s?
2. What were the effects on the population and on the availability of labour?
Regional economic development
By the late 1980s, many regional economies were on their own take-off paths. China’s economic reforms since 1978 produced resounding economic achievements which peaked in 1988. By then, Malaysia and Thailand were being touted as the next generation of ANIEs (Asian Newly Industrializing Economies). Indonesia and Philippines were slower but clearly on the uptrend momentum as well. With limited resources and intensifying competition from regional economies, Singapore had to take stock and reposition its strategies.
Group 7 & 8 :
1. How were the region’s economies developing in the late 1980s?
2. What were the implications for Singapore?
How and why did Singapore’s economic strategies shift in the 1900s?
1990s: Matured Economy (Background information)
Ÿ The EDB did not want to lose MNCs that would begin to seek the lower-cost manufacturing operations that had become available in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Ÿ The EDB therefore evolved the concept of regionalization and the growth triangle to allow Singapore to become the developer and deal maker between its neighbours and the MNCs.
o By helping to develop industrial parks in both the neighbouring countries, Singapore could help a MNC place its low-cost manufacturing into one of those sites while keeping the headquarters, R&D, distribution and marketing in Singapore.
o Economic ties and partnerships with the MNCs would be maintained, the economic competition from the neighbouring countries would be minimized à definitely a beneficial scenario for Singapore.
Regionalization
An important element in regionalization was the development of projects in other parts of Asia, especially in China. In a 1993 speech Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew described this aspect of the strategy as Singapore exporting its “software”, its know-how in building, promoting and managing industrial parks, and developing foreign investments. If Singapore could get the contact to develop such projects in China, India and other countries, it would provide economic space for Singapore-linked projects and would also provide potential markets for local Singaporean companies to begin to invest more actively outside of Singapore. The goal here was to stimulate entreprenuership and the evolution of local companies into MNCs and to provide a second wing for Singapore as an external economy.
What is regionalization?
Why was this policy adopted (remember to link your answer to how this policy would be economically beneficial for Singapore)?
References:
Low, Linda. The Political Economy of a City-State: Government-made Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Schein, E.H. Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1996.
{Handout-Industr Restruct-.doc}

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SINGAPORE ( 1960s - 2000s )
Economic Development of Singapore (1960s - 1970s)
Economic Development of Singapore ( 1970s - 1980s )
Economic Development of Singapore ( 1980s-1990s )
Sustaining economic growth in a globalised world

of Singapore (1980s( Late 1970s - 1990s)1980s )
Singapore’s economic success since independence has undeniably impressed many international observers. So why was there a need to change Singapore’s economic strategy?
For this lesson, you will work in group of 3-4 members to discuss the specific factors that led to the change in Singapore's economic strategy. At the end of 20 minutes, you will be able to have a summary of the rationale for the Industrial Restructuring.

Low, Linda. The Political Economy of a City-State: Government-made Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Schein, E.H. Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1996.
{Handout-Industr Restruct-.doc}

Economic Development of Singapore (1960s - 1970s)
Economic Development of Singapore ( 1980s-1990s )
Sustaining economic growth in a globalised world
Economic challenges and strategies to manage global challenges