Being Poor in a Rich "Nanny State"

Developments in Singapore Social Welfare

Bibliographic Data

ID23147252
AuthorsIrene Y H Ng (0000-0001-7289-8727, National University of Singapore, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume60
Issue03
Pages1550038
Publication date2015-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Singapore Economic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0217-5908 • E-ISSN: 1793-6837
PublisherWorld Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1142/s0217590815500381
OpenAlexW1940364976
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited12

This paper reviews the trends in poverty and inequality in Singapore since independence, as well as policy recommendations adopted through the years, and their results. Poverty is discussed not only in terms of wage earnings, but also in relation to employment conditions, social challenges that pile up together with income poverty, and intergenerational mobility. The paper finds that notwithstanding improvements in early decades, after fifty years, the problems of a social divide and poverty have come full circle. Social policy in Singapore retains its fundamentally productivist philosophical orientation, but the recent deterioration in poverty, inequality and mobility trends is leading to adoption of more welfare-oriented and universalist policy solutions. Social inclusion is now a national priority, and policy redirection for the future needs to take place in wide-ranging policy domains, including the labor market and economic growth.

Development economics · Earnings · Economic growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Independence (probability theory) · Inequality · Labour economics · Market economy · Measuring poverty · Political science · Poverty · Social mobility · Social policy · Social science · Sociology · Wage · Welfare · Welfare state · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Social Policy and Reform Studies