Why Singapore Thrives While the UK is in Constant Decline

The United Kingdom has been in managed decline since 2008. The dismal performance of the British economy — characterised by slow growth, low productivity and stagnant wages — has been the subject of much analysis in recent years. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has highlighted that the UK’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis has been the slowest on record, even weaker than the recovery following the Great Depression in the 1930s and the early 1920s slump.

The authors have spent part of their careers in Singapore and have written extensively on the city-state’s economic growth since its independence. On several occasions, we have been asked about what lessons the Singapore experience might hold for Britain. We believe that an assessment of just what lessons can be derived from the Singapore’s policy-mix that would be of relevance to Britain’s economic stewards would be useful.

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