The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) held its annual flagship Singapore Perspectives (SP) conference on 22 January 2018. The theme of SP2018 was "Together" and it considered Singapore's demographic challenges and opportunities as a global city-state without natural resources. This presentation seeks to elucidate the opportunities for further demographic dividends and policy adjustments and innovations, to ensure that Singapore remains an open and vibrant city-state with a productive population, and a stable, cohesive and inclusive society. Assuming a society is sufficiently forward-looking and can respond appropriately, longer life expectancy provides individuals greater incentives to invest in their human capital (particularly in health and education).
These human capital investments can lead to large gains in healthy, productive life years that enable people to accumulate savings to help sustain consumption at older ages. These savings can be channelled into investments in innovation and technology that boost productivity of workers and yield investment income that can finance old-age consumption. Harnessing these longevity dividends depends on effective policies and institutions, as well as social norms and behaviours that allow the full economic and social benefits to accrue. On the other hand, an over-reliance on individually financed investments in human and economic capital will accentuate income and wealth inequalities. Individuals have great difficulty hedging the risk of outliving their retirement savings, in particular, their financial and leasehold housing assets.
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Web Site: http://lkyspp2.nus.edu.sg/ips/event/singapore-perspectives-2018-together
For enquiries: Ms Yap Wei Ting
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