by Usha C. V. Haley
New Jersey Institute of Technology. Rutgers University (Newark)
and the Australian National University
 

Singapore presents a model city state economy with high growth,
high GDP/per capita, industry clusters to encourage global
competitiveness, a well-educated and affluent population, and
extremely good infrastructure.  Indeed, Singapore constitutes an
economic success story and even appears to have weathered
the Asian financial crisis.  Yet, a largely undocumented social story
also exists with important ramifications for public policy and strategy.
Through its virtual Singapores or industrial parks (discussed by
Haley, 1998) Singapore offers itself as a model to developing
economies around the world.  However, problems lurk
forcing an analysis of future paths even among official circles in
Singapore.

Success appears to have bred a propensity for failure in some important
respects for the knowledge economy that Singapore has targeted. These
include a lack of entrepreneurship and innovation, and gradual erosion
of creativity.  This paper will tackle some of the problems that accrue to
national development through single-minded pursuit of economic
competitiveness and the "outside the box" solutions highlighted only
through social discourse that appear imperative for continual progress."