The role of government in the Singapore economy

Singapore is one of the most fascinating economies in the world. Starting as an underdeveloped nation in the early 1960s, the dynamic city-state is now well on track of becoming a first league industrialised nation at the beginning of the next century. This study, however, reveals that Singapore's success cannot merely be explained on the basis of classical theory. Though Singapore is a free enterprise economy, it is not a free market economy. The government has intervened heavily in the country's economic development process. It performed the economic roles as a provider of public and merit goods, as a collector of public revenue, as an economic planner, as a fascilitator, as a regulator and asan entrepreneur. Each role is analysed in detail in this thesis. The example of Singapore suggests that an active government must not be disastrous. Moreover, a government can create competitive advantages under certain circumstances.