Customer Reviews

Singapore's Success : Engineering Economic Growth

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book reminds me of my experience with Robert Rubin's "In an uncertain world". I expected much, but I was quite disappointed. The author, with his dry writing, had been too careful in handling the Lee Kuan Yew and thus all political factors. Perhaps that's characteristics of bureaucrats in IMF. For those who want to get some facts for an academic thesis, that's fine. For those who want to have insights for investment and business decisions, this wont satisfy you at all.

In this exceptional well written book about the achievements of Singapore, the author integrates a discussion of the pro economic growth policies with the growth-enhancing institutions and culture of Singapore. The main theme of this book is the question as to "what other countries can learn" from the achievements of Singapore? Based on my personal visits to Singapore --the earliest of which was in 1972 for pleasure and the more recent ones in the 90s were for business or to make presentations at technology oriented conferences or for government officials of the Central Bank-- as well as on my contacts with friends in Singapore, I fully endorse the key themes that emerge from Singapore's success story. This short easy to read book should be read by all students of economic development and more importantly should be studied in detail by all policy makers interested in making government work more effectively "for all the people". Hence, it is not surprising that this book has already become a textbook for seminars organized at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. Other Public Policy departments around the globe should do likewise, teach students the best practices of professional government behavior that the author, H. Ghesquiere (a former Director of the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute) managed to so succinctly highlight in this wonderful book.

Solid and easy-to-read book on an interesting topic. I'm more into the policy aspects than signapore specifically, and this book definitely applies to development issues world-wide. There's a lot of economics, which was easy to understand, but not what I was looking for, which is why I give it four stars. It's a good primer for anyone who wants to read about Singapore's unprecendented transformation from poor to rich, or for anyone interested in development generally.

This is a well written book from a high level perspective of overall economic factors that contributed to the history of the unique circumstances surrounding the development of Singapore into a thriving economy over its first 40 years. Author H. Ghesquiere makes clear early on this is not a "how to" guide for other countries but an overview of the success factors that Singapore was able to manage and capitalize on in their unique circumstances, although some methods may be transferrable. The story is impressive and the results speak for themselves, the author presents the positive nature of the results with as fair-balanced a perspective as one would expect considering the topic. Ghesquiere touched on good fundamental economic principals capitalized on and strategically enforced by Singapore's leadership and fairly explains those concepts to make it easy to follow through the progressions to achieve his conclusions.

The main theme of this book is that in Singapore economic outcomes, policies, economic and political institutions, attitudes, values and leadership are all closely interwoven. Singapore's successful evolution is an interesting model that has flourished partly due to the cultural norms that are indicative to this region. Respect for elders, hierarchy, authority and an overall more agreeable and less confrontational, opinionated and challenging attitude is the backdrop establishing government leadership had to work with from the outset. The model is interesting, involving the heavy hand of government forcing the free market on its congregation, highly valuing personal accountability versus entitlement. Although, it seems the government entity (PAP) has intimidated its way into staying in power under a vale of providing economic prosperity, which might be debatable as a tolerable tradeoff.

This book met my expectations and fit my intentions; I would recommend this read as an overview of an initial look at Singapore and its foundational policies and objectives to current state. Government officials that need a refresher on the effectiveness and efficiency of the free market and how government can work closely with multi-national corporations to support strong economic principals might benefit from perusing this book as well.

Dr. Ghesquiere does a fantastic job of describing, in fascinating detail, the economic development of Singapore's rapid economic development between 1960 and 2000. The book is an easy read because it piques the reader's interest by minimizing overly technical descriptions and using easy to interpret tables and graphs to convey meaning and insight. He presents relevant and informative data that helps showcase the bonds between economic outcomes, policies, institutions, values, and leadership development. These are interdependent and necessary to engineer economic growth.

From the beginning and throughout, Ghesquiere explains Singapore's success as a unique combination of factors that makes duplication of its economic development extremely difficult despite having only received its independence in 1965. With a population of 4.3 million people on an island less that 40km by 20km, its naturally deep-water ports and strategic location give it a clear and distinct advantage as an international trade depot. Supporting its development is a constant focus to include multinational corporations (MNCs), a low tolerance for corruption and criminal activity, and reliance on export-oriented industrial strategies.

He presents not only the pros, but also the cons to show that progress does not take place without sacrifice and that Singapore is not without issues and concerns. For example, its use of the Central provident Fund (CPF) has allowed funds originally intended to supplement retirement income to be previsioned into a home finance program. As a result, many retirees do not have sufficient savings to support a steady income stream to offset the costs of leaving. Additionally, private ownership, to a certain extent, has been sacrificed to support public enterprises. Even advances in education are hampered by a reliance on mandarin teaching and testing traditions. One of more critical aspects of the country is the single political party - the People's Action Party (PAP) that has been in power since 1959.

Engineering is central to Singapore. Ghesquiere demonstrates its influence on society and the phenomenon that produced, on average, an 8 percent average annual rate of growth over the past four decades. Central to the engineering theme is the enlightenment experienced by the ruling elite where they found it feasible and in their best interests to spread the benefits of economic growth. This helped prevent widespread discontent and possible political, social, and financial unrest.

I strongly recommend this book for all who are interested in tracing the phenomenal development of Singapore from its infancy as a newly independent nation, through its rise as an economic force of uncompromising technological knowhow. From chapter to chapter, Ghesquiere's brilliant frameworks lead the reader on a historical, economic joyride of cause and effect to answer the ultimate question: Can we apply Singapore's economic successes to other countries?

Henri Ghesquiere provides a very detailed and candid view of the meteoric rise of Singapore's economy from the time it gained its independence from British rule in 1959 until near present day. He takes detailed look at the reasons behind the rise such as sound governmental and economic policy and how these coupled along with the successful implementation fueled the massive growth that continues today. Ghesquiere also sets out to try and understand whether or not the economic success that Singapore has had can be implemented in other present day countries with the same degree of success.

At the heart of Singapore's success were budgetary discipline and a culture that was open to long-term success and reward, not instant gratification. The Singapore government was not only capable but it operated with integrity and honesty and it had a long-term vision that was built on open trade and cooperation of its people and business partners. This, along with fundamentally sound economic policies, provided an efficient allocation of resources through price incentives and natural market mechanisms, which, over time, led to incredibly strong pro-growth institutions. The government was not driven by laissez-fair economics because it did believe in intervention when needed, such as setting wage and exchange rate policies.

Ghesquiere does a great job of breaking down in simple terms the very reasons for Singapore's economic growth by decomposing it into its parts: physical capital, labor, human capital. Educating and training people led to the technological progress and efficiency which further fueled growth. Government was also invested in providing social equality for all and they implemented policies that created cost effective healthcare and social programs without the huge spend that other countries struggle with today. The government was also extremely pro-growth and as such implemented economic policies that backed up that stance. These policies encouraged foreign investment that further fueled the economy.

Throughout the past four decades, Singapore has been able to achieve incredible and sustainable economic growth but there are challenges that lie ahead. Statistically speaking Singapore is somewhat of an outlier. Singapore's economy is improbably dominated by the state and yet this is the system that has been in place since the beginning and has worked extremely well. But this political environment will have its challenges because while it has been open to ideas from the outside it is not open to the idea of public dissent. Debates rage on whether or not the strong presence of the state on many levels of people's lives is necessary for political stability and economic growth. . The younger generation will most likely look at the past as a guide but will also want government to address and tackle issues that are more relevant to advanced, highly successful societies. If Singapore can navigate these challenges successfully by listening to the needs of its people and change its approach to one that's increasingly more democratic and not state run, the future looks very bright. The main principles that Singapore was built on such as fiscal discipline and responsibility, integrity and social equality for all are still going strong today. If they can somehow mold their political process into something that better fits the future, Singapore will continue to sustain record growth and be a model for other countries to follow.

Overall, Ghesquiere provides a comprehensive and detailed look at the reasons for Singapore's incredible economic achievement that is both easy to read and understand. Highly recommend this book for anyone that is interested in learning more about Singapore's improbable yet incredible rise to economic prosperity.

This book can be summed up with one sentence: concerning Singapore, no other economy grew faster during the 40-year period ending in 2000. That is a powerful statement and one that held my interest from the beginning. Living in the United States where many sometimes just accept economic recession, low unemployment, high healthcare costs, government corruption, government inefficiency, high national debt and high spending on social programs as the norm and something as an unavoidable price of doing business, this book shows a model where this isn't necessarily the case. With a willingness of the people to accept certain constraints in their liberties (as Westerners would view them), they gain one of the strongest economies in the world. An economy that never had to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow money. An economy that does not spend what is does not have. An economy that is as capitalistic as possible and yet boasts some of the lowest unemployment and some of the best wages with no wage control.
The author does a fantastic job of presenting his view replete with data and statistics. He examines the historical perspective and why Singapore appeared doomed as a city-state from the very beginning of its independence. He decomposes Singapore's 8 percent average annual rate of growth over 40 years. He examines the unfavorable conditions Singapore faced at the outset of their independence. He then examines the policies Singapore set in place to address fiscal, savings, monetary, exchange rates, wages, education, health and road transportation. Regardless of the policies, many countries start with good policy yet fail on implementation. Why was Singapore so different? Ghesquiere examines how the policies were supported by good institutions, good governance, the rule of law and a well-functioning social contract that resulted in political stability.