There has been much disquiet in Singapore recently. Inflation is rising incessantly, with cars now firmly out of reach of the middle class. Anecdotally, one hears of an increasing number of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (so-called PMETs) working in the gig economy. People are worried about whether their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings will see them through their retirement and Singapore’s formidable (but largely untouchable) reserves are once again a hot topic of discussion.

Much of this unease can be seen in other countries too. However, Singapore’s vulnerabilities and unique top-down governance model make this more worrying. Could these problems be serious enough to cause a structural decline in Singapore’s prosperity? After all, Singapore is a young country with much of its economic success in the eighties and nineties buoyed by the tail winds of globalisation. There is no reason this should continue forever, especially since the tailwinds of yesteryears have turned into anti-globalisation headwinds.

History is full of the carcasses of once prosperous countries that fell into decline. Argentina, for example, was one of the richest countries in the world in the 1920s. Now it is a highly indebted country that is in a perennial battle against hyperinflation.