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> In this discussion a country's population is irrelevant. It's not. You'll see that a lot of the top companies in Singapore are operating at global level whil

> In this discussion a country's population is irrelevant. It's not. You'll see that a lot of the top companies in Singapore are operating at global level while headquartered in Singapore. It's a little bit like looking only at the economy of the main US cities. > There is no requirement that everybody succeed at the same level. The measure of a country's success is improvement of society over time. Inequality is a pretty important measure. What society is better, one where everybody earns two times a livable wage or another where 25% earn eight times a livable wage and the 75% remaining are in poverty?

tastyfreeze 6y ago
There is always inequality in all aspects of life. We all do not perform on the same level. Looking at a specific point in time and comparing inequality is a poor measure of society. The only measure that matters is improvement over time. Upon independence, "Singapore faced a small domestic market, and high levels of unemployment and poverty. 70 percent of Singapore's households lived in badly overcrowded conditions, and a third of its people squatted in slums on the city fringes. Unemployment averaged 14 percent, GDP per capita was US$516, and half of the population was illiterate." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore#Independence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore#Independe...] Compared to today, Singapore has about 1000 homeless, 3.16 persons per household, a literacy rate of 97.3%, GDP per capita of $602 billion, an unemployment rate of 4.11% and a median household income of $9,293. The income distribution isn't bad either. From what I could find the cost of living (minus rent) for an individual is $575 a month. https://blog.seedly.sg/average-singaporean-household-income-stand/ https://blog.seedly.sg/average-singaporean-household-income-... The better society is the one where everyone has an opportunity to improve their lot in life by satisfying a need of others.
- gjulianm 6y ago
  > Compared to today, Singapore has about 1000 homeless, 3.16 persons per household, a literacy rate of 97.3%, GDP per capita of $602 billion, an unemployment rate of 4.11% and a median household income of $9,293. The income distribution isn't bad either. From what I could find the cost of living (minus rent) for an individual is $575 a month. By that same link, the bottom 10% of the population have less average income than your cost of living. But I read a little bit more, and it looks like that they are indeed tackling the income inequality problem [1]. Which is where country size and GDP per capita comes into play: a richer country has more money to implement inequality-reducing measures, and implementing them for a 5M people country is far easier than for bigger countries. > The better society is the one where everyone has an opportunity to improve their lot in life by satisfying a need of others. Well, that's why inequality is important as a metric. If you're born in a poor household, statistically you'll have far less opportunities than if you're born in a better situation. Want everybody to have an opportunity to improve and succeed? Fight poverty. 1: https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-inequality-has-many-causes-and-needs-to-be-tackled-practically-not-ideologically https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-inequality-...

tastyfreeze 6y ago

There is always inequality in all aspects of life. We all do not perform on the same level. Looking at a specific point in time and comparing inequality is a poor measure of society. The only measure that matters is improvement over time. Upon independence, "Singapore faced a small domestic market, and high levels of unemployment and poverty. 70 percent of Singapore's households lived in badly overcrowded conditions, and a third of its people squatted in slums on the city fringes. Unemployment averaged 14 percent, GDP per capita was US$516, and half of the population was illiterate." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore#Independence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore#Independe...] Compared to today, Singapore has about 1000 homeless, 3.16 persons per household, a literacy rate of 97.3%, GDP per capita of $602 billion, an unemployment rate of 4.11% and a median household income of $9,293. The income distribution isn't bad either. From what I could find the cost of living (minus rent) for an individual is $575 a month. https://blog.seedly.sg/average-singaporean-household-income-stand/ https://blog.seedly.sg/average-singaporean-household-income-... The better society is the one where everyone has an opportunity to improve their lot in life by satisfying a need of others.

gjulianm 6y ago
> Compared to today, Singapore has about 1000 homeless, 3.16 persons per household, a literacy rate of 97.3%, GDP per capita of $602 billion, an unemployment rate of 4.11% and a median household income of $9,293. The income distribution isn't bad either. From what I could find the cost of living (minus rent) for an individual is $575 a month. By that same link, the bottom 10% of the population have less average income than your cost of living. But I read a little bit more, and it looks like that they are indeed tackling the income inequality problem [1]. Which is where country size and GDP per capita comes into play: a richer country has more money to implement inequality-reducing measures, and implementing them for a 5M people country is far easier than for bigger countries. > The better society is the one where everyone has an opportunity to improve their lot in life by satisfying a need of others. Well, that's why inequality is important as a metric. If you're born in a poor household, statistically you'll have far less opportunities than if you're born in a better situation. Want everybody to have an opportunity to improve and succeed? Fight poverty. 1: https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-inequality-has-many-causes-and-needs-to-be-tackled-practically-not-ideologically https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-inequality-...