(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)
Lee, Sing-Kong; Goh, Chor Boon; Fredriksen, Birger; Tan, Jee Peng
The Singapore economy has undergone
significant stages of development since the 1960s. It has
grown from its traditional role as a regional port and
distribution center in the 1960s to an international
manufacturing and service center in the 1970s and 1980s, and
now into a center of science-based manufacturing and
knowledge-intensive technical services. Much has been
written to explain this success. Emphasis has been placed on
the early adoption of an export-oriented strategy for
industrialization, high savings and investment rates, a
stable macroeconomic environment, and even socio cultural
traits that support successful industrialization. This
volume documents a less-explored aspect of Singapore's
economic development: it examines the transformation of the
education and training system since the country's
independence in 1965 and how the process contributed to
skills formation and, hence, economic change.