Does Singapore Need Economic Restructuring II or Another ‘Wage Revolution’?

In this paper, Professor Lim first discusses the circumstances that led to the urgent need to embark on the Economic Restructuring I in 1979 and assesses the modus operandi used then to achieve the restructuring objective. He then compares the changed circumstances of today’s economy, which has a new set of problems and priorities. He advocates another formal economic restructuring exercise (Economic Restructuring II) and proposes recommendations to restructure the present economy. His iconoclastic and likely to be controversial recommendations are based on the economic principles used in the Economic Restructuring I, but with the additional objectives of checking the trend of rising income inequality and lessening the over-reliance of cheap foreign labour import.