Asia Competitiveness Institute, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
In times of uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, policymakers are compelled to make high-risk and quick decisions that may go against their broader policy mandates. At the onset of the pandemic, the Indian government mandated a clearance requirement for new FDI projects from land-border sharing economies. It was widely understood that these new FDI […]
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Summary: The world economy has experienced multiple turmoils in the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the first wave of global economic decline, in which global GDP growth contracted by 3.3% in 2020. The global economy subsequently recovered in 2021, reaping an annual increase of 5.8%, amid the optimism that the arrival of vaccines […]
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Summary: The pandemic has changed consumers’ habit. The overall retail sales in Singapore have recovered to the pre-pandemic level, but some sectors are still lagging. Instead of dining in the restaurants, some have opted to buy more from the supermarkets. The greater dispersion in retail sales indices imply reallocations of consumption among Singaporean consumers. Whether […]
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Internationalization is a major strategic component of most business firms’ activities (Meilin, 1992), and key models of internationalization tend to describe it as taking place gradually and in distinct stages (Boisot and Meyer, 2008; Johanson & Vahlne, 1990; Meilin, 1992; Vernon, 1966). During their internationalization process, firms shift progressively from low involvement (e.g., exporting) to […]
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Summary: Digital economy has become increasingly prominent in China’s tertiary industry. Due to the pandemic, big data and internet have been put to full use in almost all sectors of the economy. The size of the digital economy in the service sector is found to be 40.7%, according to findings from the China Academy of […]
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Note: The reported values are annual figures. 2021 data refers to as of 2021Q2. Summary: As an international tourist destination and connection hub, millions of tourists visit Singapore annually. However, the recent border closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the tourism sector’s revenue and employment, with spillover effects on other industries. Using […]
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2020 has proven to be a tumultuous year for the world. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as a highly internationalized region, is naturally not spared from events. At the time of writing, vaccines for the virus have begun to be distributed worldwide in the hopes of containing the virus. Meanwhile, new and more […]
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Why was the Singapore – Hong Kong travel bubble deferred twice? Will a high vaccination rate give policy makers the necessary confidence to proceed with it again? Our latest research explores the decision-making process among global leaders as they work towards cooperative travel arrangements in a pandemic. Reopening international travel is one of the most pressing issues facing the world […]
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Summary: Of the eight ASEAN Member States where deaths have been reported, Singapore has the lowest case fatality rate despite having the highest number of cumulative COVID-19 cases per million population. Malaysia and Thailand also note comparatively lower case fatality rates despite having higher proportions of elderly in the population. Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI)’s Annual ASEAN Competitiveness Index was found […]
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Summary: While governments around the world respond to the pandemic with various combinations of focus on health vs. economic costs, even those nations that have managed to recover from the pandemic see their economies continuing to suffer due to global trade decline. This week’s chart compares the weekly new COVID-19 cases per million population, and year-on-year real […]
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ACI PERSPECTIVES 