Singapore overlooks the strait of Malacca, the key gateway by sea between India and China. It has been a strategic trading port for centuries. The cost of shipp

Singapore overlooks the strait of Malacca, the key gateway by sea between India and China. It has been a strategic trading port for centuries. The cost of shipping goods there is correspondingly low — ships go there anyway. Consequently, it has always had a culture and economy that was prepared to take advantage of our high-trade global economy. Being the Switzerland of Asia doesn't hurt either. Panama is the logical point of comparison — its governance has been consistently atrocious (cf. Noriega), but it nonetheless remains among the front of the pack in Latin America economically.