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SCAPE: Confronting tomorrow's economic problems today

When Singapore's structural unemployment problem worsened at the turn of the millennium, the Government sought solutions to the problem.  One of the solutions implemented was to get the workers to go for regular training and re-training to upgrade their skills; so as to keep their skills relevant to the labour market. NUS Department of Economics' Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics (SCAPE) was commissioned by the Ministry of Manpower to look into whether structured training for workers has proven effective; the factors that affect workers' participation in such training programmes; and whether the Government should pursue policies that actively encourage workers to go for structured training.

SCAPE: From left, front row: Research Fellow Dr Lee Chee Tong; Associate Professor Shandre Thangavelu (Director); Associate Professor Anthony Chin (Deputy Director). Back row: Research Fellows Mr Enrico Tanuwidjaja; Ms Yong Yik Wei and Mr Ng Kwan Kee. Up to 2006, SCAPE has published 28 working papers.

SCAPE has also been commissioned by the Workforce Development Agency to work on another project related to the training of Singapore's workforce. They wanted to measure the outcomes of various training programmes, including those under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications system for the retail and training industries, the Employability Skills System, and selected programmes supported by the Skills Development Fund. The study will yield information on the returns to training in terms of sales, profitability, productivity, and customer satisfaction at the company level -- as well as employability, career progression, remuneration and job satisfaction at the employee level.

Policy makers as well as private sector analysts have increasingly, begun to look to university academia to carry out rigorous policy studies. It was with this in mind that SCAPE was established in February 2005. Its key areas of research are macroeconomics and modelling, manpower issues, public finance and experimental and behaviourial economics. To date, SCAPE has published 28 working papers. The Centre also undertakes applied research work in Econometrics and forecasting of the Singapore economy with its Econometric Studies Unit (established in 1981) as well as offering executive courses for professionals and workshops as part of the Economics Executive Programme. Distinguished academics from leading universities such as Professor Colin Kirkpatrick, University of Manchester; Professor Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University; and Professor Jack Knetsch, Simon Fraser Univesity have visited the Centre to undertake research as well as to conduct lectures and seminars.

Said the Centre's Director, Associate Professor Shandre Thangavelu: "SCAPE's mission is to provide rigorous, independent and timely economic research that will serve as the basis for economic policy formulation in Singapore and Asia."

The Centre's role is particularly relevant, seen in the light of Singapore's economic roller-coaster ride since the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. "It's our vision to do more leading research on Singapore and Asia. The 1997 crisis is one example which has drawn attention to the urgent need for in-depth analyses of many pressing economic policy issues. Unlike the US where every important economic policy issue comes under the scrutiny of many researchers, many such issues remain unanalysed in Singapore," he pointed out.

As another example of SCAPE's relevance in the region, Associate Professor Shandre cited the example of the research commisioned by World Bank to study the problem of skills shortages and mismatches in the Malaysian economy. Explained Associate Professor Shandre: “Rapid global technological changes have resulted in an increase in the demand for skilled labor. As a result, many countries have run into the problem of skills shortages. While some countries, such as Korea and Ireland, have successfully overcome the problem. Others, such as Malaysia, are still facing the problem."

SCAPE has presented the findings in a conference organised by the World Bank in Kuala Lumpur (November 2005) on investment climate and competitiveness in East Asia. A more concise version of the report will be published as a book by the World Bank in the later part of 2006.

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