Outstanding Economics Teacher Award 2021

The Singapore government will release its annual budget on February 16 which will spell out its objectives and allocation of funds for the coming year. The budget is expected to address major issues concerning the environment and sustainability objectives, the economic impact of the pandemic, workforce transformation, and putting in place new drivers for continued growth and employment for Singapore. The Economic Society of Singapore is organizing a post-Budget 2021 panel to present views on what promises to be a highly consequential budget. ESS has assembled a distinguished panel of speakers who, being well-versed in their knowledge of the Singapore economy and international economic affairs, will have much to contribute to our understanding of the budget’s implications.

In 2019 Singapore’s income equality fell to its lowest level for two decades. However, some observers expect income inequality to widen again from 2020 due to the uneven economic impact of the COVID pandemic. In this view, high-wage work has continued robustly throughout the pandemic while, in contrast, low-wage work has been profoundly curtailed by public health restrictions and economic downturn. In this ESS webinar chaired by Professor Danny Quah, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, our panelists discuss the challenges of income inequality in Singapore due to the pandemic and more generally. What is the consensus now on tradeoffs between growth and equity? How are social mobility and income inequality related in Singapore? What factors in Singapore drive social stratification or, conversely, increased equality? How does demography interact with income inequality? Is the real problem in inequality of outcome or inequality of opportunity? Join us in what promises to be a lively discussion on the challenges of income inequality in Singapore.

Competition ended on 15 September 2020

As Singapore heads towards a new phase of recovery, the ESS webinar series turns the spotlight back again on the Covid-19 pandemic. Tensions between public health and economic considerations developed as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed both systems to the edge. ESS has lined up a panel consisting of public health and economic experts to help us understand if the dust is settling from the implications of Covid-19 and the interventions taken in both public health and the economy. The speakers will also explore whether public health and economy outlook will continue to be as unpredictable and whether tensions will continue to abound. Expect some of these topical issues to be covered: Are appropriate treatments now available for Covid-19 patients? When will be vaccines available and how long will it take for the population to be immunised? Are the current public health measures enough to prevent a resurgence? Are there signs that the Singapore economy is reopening and recovering well? Have the stimulus measures taken effect? Are the parts of the economy and population that need more help?

Main takeaways from the Webinar: 1. The USD still currently dominates the world reserve currency by a far majority, but a sudden shift is not unlikely 2. There are a few contenders to the USD. Namely Euro, RMB and a possible shift to cryptocurrencies without a sovereign issuer 3. How Singapore adopts to such alternatives (if any), depends on her future trading patterns and trading partners Keywords: USD, Euro, RMB, Cryptocurrencies, Trade, ASEAN

Main takeaways from the Webinar: 1. The Singapore economy is not in trouble, and the government has fared relatively well in tackling the ever-evolving situation. 2. Save the worker, not the job. Call it Creative Destruction or Structural Transformation, our economy and business models will change. 3. Even if a vaccine to Covid-19 is found, the hastened changes will continue. We should use this chance to reinvent ourselves so we can ride the winds of recovery when it happens eventually. Keywords: Uncertainty, K-shaped Recovery, Structural Transformation, Retraining, Incentivising Innovation