Terence Wai Luen Ho - Refreshing The Singapore System: Recalibrating Socio-economic Policy For The 21st Century

Recalibrating Socio-Economic
Policy for the 21st Century

Recalibrating Socio-Economic
Policy for the 21st Century

W. L. Terence Ho

Published by

World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224

USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601

UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ho, W. L. Terence, author.

Title: Refreshing the Singapore system : recalibrating socio-economic policy for the 21st century / W. L. Terence Ho.

Description: Hackensack : World Scientific, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021015321 | ISBN 9789811236532 (hardcover) | ISBN 9789811236549 (ebook) | ISBN 9789811236556 (ebook other)

Subjects: LCSH: Economic development--Singapore--History--21st century. | Social planning--Singapore--History--21st century. | Singapore--Economic policy. | Singapore--Economic conditions. | Singapore--Social policy.

Classification: LCC HC445.8 .H599 2021 | DDC 330.95957--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015321

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright 2021 by Terence W L Ho

All rights reserved.

For any available supplementary material, please visit
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12265#t=suppl

Desk Editor: Lai Ann

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Printed in Singapore

Terence Ho unites technical expertise, historical depth, and personal experience to answer two urgent questions for policymakers in Singapore and around the world: What is the secret recipe that has fostered five decades of miraculous growth in Singapore, accompanied by rising shared prosperity? And how must that recipe be updated or revamped to meet the challenges of today and the decades ahead? You wont find a better guide to these questions than Hos authoritative book.

David Autor
Ford Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This book traces the evolution of Singapores socio-economic policies over the past two decades, as it confronted and continues to confront the twin challenges of slowing economic growth and rising societal inequality. Ho offers a comprehensive account of the full range of Singapores policy responses, drawing on his firsthand experiences in the government sector. This essential reference comes at a particularly timely juncture for taking stock, with Singapore at a political and economic crossroads as it navigates the post-Covid world.

Davin Chor
Associate Professor and Globalization Chair, Tuck School of Business,
Dartmouth College

How does Singapore manage its social welfare system? Refreshing the Singapore System is now the go-to book on this important topic.

Tyler Cowen
Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics, George Mason University
Co-host of the Marginal Revolution economics blog

In an increasingly polarised age, political polemic is often assumed to be synonymous with public policy. What is forgotten is that public policy is a sifting of what is politically and technically possible from the ideal. Terences arguments for a recalibration of Singapores socio-economic policy will neither satisfy those who want to adopt a Scandinavian model nor those who want less government distortion. However, for those who are willing to grapple with the practical dilemmas of governing in a real political entity, they will draw insights from Terences measured arguments.

Goh Mui Pong
Head, Monetary Authority of Singapore Academy

Refreshing the Singapore System is an important contribution to understanding the policy ecosystem in Singapore and how different policy domains interact and interrelate. The book is extensively researched, well-organised and cogently articulated. The policy complexities and conundrums are clearly communicated and aided by visual models which make comprehension of even the most complicated interplays intuitive. Mr Ho has done the policy community in Singapore a significant service through his contribution of this book which deserves to be read by and will benefit both the specialist and the layperson.

Devadas Krishnadas
Chief Executive Officer, Future-Moves Group

Refreshing the Singapore System is an excellent primer for more informed discourse on Singapores unique social policy in chat rooms, living rooms and boardrooms islandwide.

Augustin Lee
Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Central Provident Fund Board

Refreshing the Singapore System is an excellent first-hand account and a great primer on the thought processes behind Singapores well-honed economic and social policies. Terences book brings to us the unique view of the seasoned policy planner. More importantly, his time in the Service also traces the pressures faced by modern Singapore an evolving social compact, faster population ageing, a greater need for human capital optimisation amidst a more volatile global financial system, and an unprecedented pandemic.

Leong Wai Ho
Managing Director (Research), Modular Asset Management

During his two decades in Singapores civil service, Terence Ho was involved in, or had a ringside seat to, many of the more contested public policies. After the pandemic, many of these would have to be rethought as the social contract is debated and renegotiated. A prerequisite of such rethinking is a deep understanding of how Singapores key socio-economic policies have evolved in the last two decades. Refreshing the Singapore System is a highly readable, sympathetic and coherent account of these policies, their underlying philosophy, and how theyve been enhanced in recent years.

Donald Low
Senior Lecturer and Professor of Practice in Public Policy,
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

This book is informative, fair and, above all, clear. It is written in a style which not only makes it easy to read but a pleasure to read. There is much substance here. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to any reader, whether a student, businessperson or voter. All can gain a better understanding of Singapore, the socio-economic policies it has followed as well as the challenges and choices Singapore and its citizens are addressing and will have to continue to address.

Victor Mills
Chief Executive, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

A fascinating, thorough and thoughtful examination of public policies in Singapore, a country widely recognised for its economic achievements which has also been pioneering important new approaches to social welfare and labour markets. The book carefully examines the data on issues such as poverty, inequality, social mobility and the evolution of a distinctive Singapore model that doesnt fit neatly into categories designed for the Western world, and is particularly interesting on the sophisticated methods developed to align economic and social policies in a fast-changing environment.