The Price of Success: Income Inequality in the Global City-State of Singapore 1999-2017
(2020) EKHS22 20201Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- Singapore has remarkably transformed from a small and poor Southeast Asian island into an affluent global city-state today. However, in contemporary times, the distribution of the gains from the nation’s progress and prosperity has been increasingly unequal. An understanding of the extent of income inequality is imperative to reassess the current policies and resource allocation decisions. The aim of the paper is to calculate the level of market income inequality among individuals aged 15 years and above in the Singapore labor force from 1999 to 2017 against the backdrop of the city-state’s long-standing liberal immigration policies. It primarily uses the Gini coefficient with the interpretation of the findings using existing theories on... (More)
- Singapore has remarkably transformed from a small and poor Southeast Asian island into an affluent global city-state today. However, in contemporary times, the distribution of the gains from the nation’s progress and prosperity has been increasingly unequal. An understanding of the extent of income inequality is imperative to reassess the current policies and resource allocation decisions. The aim of the paper is to calculate the level of market income inequality among individuals aged 15 years and above in the Singapore labor force from 1999 to 2017 against the backdrop of the city-state’s long-standing liberal immigration policies. It primarily uses the Gini coefficient with the interpretation of the findings using existing theories on inequality as the framework. It also probes into the plausible deeper ‘ultimate’ causes of long-run inequality trends, which lie in its entrenched institutions. Results indicate that income inequality has been generally increasing until its first peak in 2007, and thereafter eased into a plateau until 2017. Over the period, the income share of the bottom 50% actually halved while the middle 40% has relatively gained. When the ideology in the state’s narratives: global competitiveness, meritocracy, and minimalist welfare permeate the society at large, the notion of income inequality may become self-reinforced and legitimized. These findings highlight that more holistic affirmative action is needed to reconnect disadvantaged parts of the population to opportunities and the growth process in order for them to share the benefits of the nation’s progress and prosperity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9021141
- author
- Iaw, Isabelle Huiwen LU
- supervisor
-
- Jutta Bolt LU
- organization
- course
- EKHS22 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Income Inequality, Institutions, Labor Force, Singapore
- language
- English
- id
- 9021141
- date added to LUP
- 2020-07-03 12:06:00
- date last changed
- 2020-07-03 12:06:00
@misc{9021141, abstract = {{Singapore has remarkably transformed from a small and poor Southeast Asian island into an affluent global city-state today. However, in contemporary times, the distribution of the gains from the nation’s progress and prosperity has been increasingly unequal. An understanding of the extent of income inequality is imperative to reassess the current policies and resource allocation decisions. The aim of the paper is to calculate the level of market income inequality among individuals aged 15 years and above in the Singapore labor force from 1999 to 2017 against the backdrop of the city-state’s long-standing liberal immigration policies. It primarily uses the Gini coefficient with the interpretation of the findings using existing theories on inequality as the framework. It also probes into the plausible deeper ‘ultimate’ causes of long-run inequality trends, which lie in its entrenched institutions. Results indicate that income inequality has been generally increasing until its first peak in 2007, and thereafter eased into a plateau until 2017. Over the period, the income share of the bottom 50% actually halved while the middle 40% has relatively gained. When the ideology in the state’s narratives: global competitiveness, meritocracy, and minimalist welfare permeate the society at large, the notion of income inequality may become self-reinforced and legitimized. These findings highlight that more holistic affirmative action is needed to reconnect disadvantaged parts of the population to opportunities and the growth process in order for them to share the benefits of the nation’s progress and prosperity.}}, author = {{Iaw, Isabelle Huiwen}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{The Price of Success: Income Inequality in the Global City-State of Singapore 1999-2017}}, year = {{2020}}, }