Purves, Andrew Mackay;
(2023)
Economic Rent, inequality and public revenue - The Singapore Model.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
Economic rent, inequality and public revenue. The Singapore Model, Corrected version Andrew Purves.pdf - Accepted Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Private accumulation of economic rent from rising land values is increasingly identified as a key cause of rising inequality in advanced economies. Does the public collection of economic rent ensure greater equity? Singapore has been identified and praised for collecting a significant proportion of this rent, having achieved a high level of public ownership of land since independence in 1965. Anne Haila described this system, and Singapore, as a Property State (Haila, 2016). The system aligns with what Gavin Kerr calls Geo-classical liberalism (Kerr, 2017), where strong conditionality applies to land ownership, weak conditionality to wealth creation. Haila’s concept of the property state is used as a framework to research the socio-economic outcomes in Singapore. This thesis will fill a research gap, to provide a detailed analysis of how the system operates, why it was implemented, and reflect on its shortcomings. The public housing programme is considered a success, however, loopholes for significant private accumulation of economic rent by a professional elite remain, which through inheritance will be perpetuated, thus challenging Lee’s vision of the state’s foundation on principles of equity and reward for work. Through both quantitative and qualitative analysis of policy and institutional arrangements, I identify a partial implementation of the Geo-classical idea in Singapore, together with its dependence on foreign workers, and the constraints on political expression as potential weaknesses for the survival of an apparently stable polity. An extended Property State framework with a clearer application of Geo-classical principles is suggested as a means to resolve some of these inequities, for the future of Singapore. My contribution will be to illustrate how the Geo-classical theory might be applied fully in Singapore as a more complete model for other jurisdictions.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Economic Rent, inequality and public revenue - The Singapore Model |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10167693 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
