Toh Mun Heng

Economic impact of tourism in Singapore

Abstract This paper uses input-output methodology to analyze the economic impact of Singapores tourist industry and to evaluate its prospects for development. The overall impact has been favorable and current plans for tourism promotion are in thr right direction. Singapores role as a gateway into the region is being eclipsed because of development of tourist sectors in more land-abundant countries, as well as its own diversification into an international business and convention hub. Growth in tourism is constrained by more than labor and capacity such as hotel rooms, other facilities, and availability of plane seats. As tourism is personalized and service-oriented, Singapore needs to continue its human resource development.

Singapore: An intelligent city‐state

This paper presents the growth of Singapore as a city state under colonial rule and traces the meteoric rise of its information sector. The first part documents the various telecommunications inves...

The state of play of direct foreign investment in Asia

Abstract A new pattern in which the direction and source of direct foreign investment (DFI) have changed in Asia Pacific is discerned. This study examines some empirical evidence to examine three hypotheses with respect to DFI and the growth process, the “wild flying geese pattern”, the impact on export-led growth, and trade. While DFI and the export-led strategy have become the accepted mechanism of economic growth, they have also brought about new problems of competition and sustainable growth for existing NIEs and potential ones. The implications drawn from this study suggests that megatrends in regional strategies, international trade and exchange, and economic cooperation, all need a closer look. Open regionalism in a more interdependent, globalized and competitive environment would serve better as DFI creates a network of interlocking activities among various tiers of developed and developing countries. At the same time there is a need for more coordination of national policies as the transmission process increases in levels and complexity. Increasingly, the degree of freedom in national strategies and policies may also be compromised as the global operations of multinational corporations through DFI necessitate some harmonization and cooperation in activities across borders and sovereign interests may have to serve corporate ones.

The economic impact of the information sector in Singapore

The information sector, delineated as encompassing activities associated with the production and dissemination of information goods and services, is recognised as a dynamic growth sector in developed as well as newly-industrialising countries. Using an input-output methodology, this paper attempts to measure the magnitude and assess the economic impact of the information sector in Singapore. The results are found to be favourable although a number of caveats may be raised regarding its apparent import dependency and foreign exchange earning capability, which has turned from positive to negative over the ten-year period 1973–83. Other issues are also raised concerning the institutional framework, both domestic and international, necessary to support the sector both efficiently and flexibly. Policy implications are drawn from the results of the input-output analysis to consolidate and reinforce current policies to promote information technology in Singapore.

Modern Economic Development Concepts

The chapter provides a concise review of the major theoretical contribution to economic development since the Second World War. Backed by the Harrod–Domar growth model, economic development strategies in the 1940s till 1960s were much dominated by the debate between balanced growth championed by Ragnar Nurse and Rodenstein-Rodan and unbalanced growth led by Albert Hirschman. Unbalanced growth doctrine favors using the limited resources to develop identified strategic sector which will then pull and push other sectors to support and achieve overall growth. The unbalanced growth approach somewhat jived with theories based on economic dualism associated with researchers like Arthur Lewis, John Fei and Gustav Ranis. The basic dual economy theory explains how an agrarian economy with no modern industrial sector is transformed into a mature industrial economy. The idea of development as transformation from primitive traditional society to one characterized by high mass consumption was skillfully described by Rostow’s book in 1961. By the end of the 1980s, new theories that have substantive impact on economic development were propounded by academics and researchers in field of business strategies, urban planning and spatial economics. Many of these have neoclassical economics foundation and also have derived insights from increased spatial interdependence and competition attributed to globalization and availability of new communication technologies. New concepts like competitive advantage, agglomeration economies and global value chain become increasingly familiar in development economics.

Singapore’s Economic Development in the Light of Modern Development Concepts

The chapter considers the application of modern concepts of development as in competitive advantage, value chain, cluster analysis and agglomeration economies, applied assiduously to foster growth in the Singapore’s economy. Economic development in the Singapore’s economy is divided into different phases. The roles and usage of the new concepts in charting plans and policies that transform a former British colony and trading post into a modern industrialized economy with world class infrastructure and sophisticated enterprises are discussed in profiling the different phases of development.