Khee Giap Tan

Empirical assessment on the liveability of cities in the Greater China Region

Purpose – This paper aims to apply a comprehensive Liveability Cities index to rank the liveability of 100 cities in the Greater China Region. Against the backdrop of the ongoing trend of rapid and extensive urbanisation observed in China, “liveability” is being given an increasingly higher priority by the Chinese government. However, there has been no attempt to empirically measure this concept and to examine its nexus to the narrower concept of competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach – The index is based on 96 indicators across five environments, namely, economic vibrancy and competitiveness; environmental friendliness and sustainability; domestic security and stability; socio-cultural conditions; and political governance. Findings – The empirical results show that Hong Kong, Macau and cities in Taiwan generally perform well in overall liveability rankings, while first-tier cities in mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) do not find a place among the top ranks. Originality/valu...

Ranking the liveability of the world's major cities : the global liveable cities index (GLCI)

What Makes a City More Liveable? The Empirical Framework: Methodology, Data and Computation Algorithm The Empirical Findings and Policy Simulation The Liveable City-States of Hong Kong and Singapore The Global Liveable Cities Index in Perspective.

Promoting SMEs and Enhancing Labor Productivity in Singapore: A Policy Analysis

While Singapore has been doing well in terms of cross-country per capita income comparisons and in terms of overall employment growth, it has been a laggard when it comes to labor productivity and this concern is more serious for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In this context, this paper first identifies the sources of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and simulates different scenarios pertaining to the potential GDP which the economy can achieve given the level of required productivity based on some employment-growth assumptions. Further, the paper reevaluates the performance, challenges and opportunities for SMEs as well as suggests several policy strategies as to how SMEs can synergize and be more competitive moving forward.

A new instrument to promote knowledge-led growth: the Global Liveable Cities Index

At a time of increasing mobility of talent, attracting human capital has become the critical success factor to fuel knowledge-led growth. This paper uses the notion of ‘liveability’ to denote the broader set of criteria to attract such talent and measures these criteria with the Global Liveable Cities Index (GLCI) which encompasses 85 indicators. We constructed the eclectic GLCI, which combines both aspects, for 64 global cities and conducted a policy simulation where each city improved its weakest 20% indicators to average levels. The simulation showed dramatic improvement to the city’s liveability and is a useful tool for policymakers to improve the city’s competitiveness.

Understanding and Tracking Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for Expatriates and Ordinary Residents

The following sections are included:Background and Research MotivationLiterature ReviewFactors which Affect Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for Expatriates and Ordinary ResidentsGeographical Distributions of Cities According to Cost of Living for Expatriates and Cost of Living for Ordinary ResidentsSensitivity of Cost of Living Rankings to Exchange Rate FluctuationsThe Effects of Currency Appreciation on Expatriates and Ordinary ResidentsRelationships between Cost of Living, Purchasing Power and LiveabilityExpected Contributions of the ACI’s Study and Chapter Organisation of the BookReferences

A new index to measure ease of doing business at the sub-national level: Empirical findings from Indonesia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel framework to measure ease of doing business (EDB) that undertakes a holistic approach incorporating three distinct environments: attractiveness to investors, business friendliness, and competitive policies (ABC). This is offered as an alternative to existing popular indicators of doing business (DB), allowing for better approximation of investment and economic growth at the sub-national level. Design/methodology/approach The proposed “EDB Index ABC” aggregates 74 indicators into five sub-environments, three environments, and ultimately into the overall EDB Index ABC. Values are standardised using the standardised score method. The framework is applied to 33 Indonesian provinces using a combination of primary data from surveying the business community and government departments as well as secondary data from formal government statistics. Findings The findings suggest a positive association between the proposed EDB Index ABC and competitiveness as well as investments into Indonesian provinces. In terms of explanatory power, attractiveness to investors and business friendliness seem to be stronger and more consistent, while the role of competitive policies is more ambiguous. Originality/value This research departs significantly from conventional approaches to the study of DB that tend to overwhelmingly focus on formal regulatory aspects by including macroeconomic factors such as market potential and infrastructure resilience as well as micro-level variables such as profitability and cost effectiveness, and the role of government in managing competition. Responding to calls for a bottom-up approach in understanding the EDB, the EDB Index ABC is applied to 33 Indonesian provinces.

A Case Study on Malaysia and Singapore: Nexus amongst Competitiveness, Cost of Living, Wages, Purchasing Power, and Liveability

Malaysia and Singapore had parted more than five decades ago. Much of the existing literature concerned about the bilateral ties between two economies focusing on the political economy perspective. This paper aims to provide insights on the economic development and prospects of Malaysia and Singapore at the national level. In addition, this paper also makes a pioneering attempt at conducting a comprehensive comparative analysis between Malaysia and Singapore at the city level.,This paper offers a case study of Malaysia and Singapore by assessing their national economic competitiveness, urban standards of living and quality of life. The paper leverages on a series of indices such as the competitiveness index for ASEAN-10, the cost of living, wages and purchasing power of ordinary residents, as well as the liveable cities index to perform the analysis.,In terms of national competitiveness, the analysis shows that Singapore and Malaysia have been leading the ASEAN region from 2000 onwards, being the top- and second-ranked, respectively. Malaysia still lags Singapore in several aspects such as attractiveness to foreign investors and standard of living, education and social stability despite insignificant differences in the ranking. City-level analysis shows that the cost of living in Singapore is almost double of that in Kuala Lumpur, although living in Singapore is more affordable owing to the higher wage rate received by the ordinary citizens.,This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this paper assesses economic development in Singapore and Malaysia instead of focusing on cross-straits relations. Second, the study reflects the view that the improvement of standards of living and quality of life for ordinary residents is paramount to economic development. The competitiveness index and city-level benchmarks used in the paper reflect the standards of living and the quality-of-life dimensions. Third, the focus on city-level analysis in addition to conventional national-level analysis helps to provide policymakers with practical policy implications against the backdrop of rapid urbanisation.

A new index to measure cost of living for expatriates in cities

Cost of living is an important consideration for the decision-making of expatriates and investment decisions of businesses. As competition between cities for talent and capital becomes global instead of national, the need for timely and internationally comparable information on global cities’ cost of living increases. While commercial research houses frequently publish cost of living surveys, these reports can be lacking in terms of scientific rigour. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by formulating a comprehensive and rigorous methodology to compare the cost of living for expatriates in 103 world’s major cities.,A cost of living index for expatriates composed of the ten consumption categories is constructed. The results from the study covers a study period from 2005 to 2014 in 103 cities. More than 280 individual prices of 165 goods and services have been compiled for each city in the calculation of the cost of living index for expatriates. New York has been chosen as the base city for the study, with other cities being benchmarked against it. A larger cost of living index for expatriates implies that the city is more expensive for expatriates to live in and vice versa.,While the authors generate the cost of living rankings for expatriates for 103 cities worldwide, in this paper, the authors focus on five key cities, namely, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich, as they are global financial centres. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, Zurich was the most expensive for expatriates among the five cities, followed by Singapore, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong. These results pertain to the cost of living for expatriates, and cities compare very differently in terms of cost of living for ordinary residents, as ordinary residents follow different consumption patterns from expatriates.,Cost of living in the destination city is a major consideration for professionals who look to relocate, and organisations factor such calculations in their decisions to post employees overseas and design commensurate compensation packages. This paper develops a comprehensive and rigorous methodology for measuring and comparing cost of living for expatriates around the world. The value-addition lies in the fact that the authors are able to differentiate between expatriates and ordinary residents, which has not been done in the existing literature. They use higher quality data and generate an index that is not sensitive to the choice of base city.

Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Transition Economies of Southeast Asia: A Geweke Causality Analysis

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) have come to be recognized as the new growth frontiers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, especially since the 2000s. Though all the CLV countries were hit by the global financial crisis (GFC), there has been a sharp recovery in all the economies from around 2010 or so, partly aided by the rapid development of their financial sector. While this has formed the basis for optimism about the growth potential of these countries, there have also been concerns that these countries have been experiencing a period of excessive credit growth – an offshoot of rapid financial deepening – which in turn is hampering growth and aggravating financial instability. In light of this discussion, this paper examines the nexus between financial deepening and economic growth employing a Geweke causality framework with quarterly data for CLV countries from 1996 to 2010.

Assessing Development Strategies of Jiangsu and Taiwan: A Geweke Causality Analysis

Among the economies in the Eastern coastal area of mainland China, Jiangsu has stood out in terms of its rapid and sustained economic growth since 2000. The province has done exceptionally well in terms of competitiveness indicators, catching up quickly with the leading Greater China economy of Taiwan. Such convergence has triggered much academic and policy interest in terms of understanding the driving factors that have enabled Jiangsu to catch up with Taiwan. In this context, this paper empirically analyzes the factors that have caused the convergence between the two economies from 2000 to 2011 by employing Geweke Causality analysis. By decomposing and examining the linear feedback between economic growth and vectors of variables capturing investments in infrastructure, human capital, science, technology and innovation activities, this paper confirms the important role played by those factors in the convergence between Jiangsu and Taiwan in recent years.