The Singapore Economy Reconsidered owes its origins to a growing concern within and outside the Institute for the need of a comprehensive survey of the Singapore economy, particularly over the medium term. The decline of the economy in 1985, for the first time in twenty years, focused these concerns even more sharply, since it brought to light structural difficulties that had been hidden by the general economic growth. At the same time, the findings and recommendations of the Economic Committee, set up in 1985 under the chairmanship of the then Acting Minister for Trade and Industry, Brigadier-General (Res.) Lee Hsien Loong, provided additional data and a bench-mark to launch critical investigations into both the trends and desired future directions of the Singapore economy. It was felt that this objective could perhaps be best achieved if investigations were undertaken by a team of researchers, including those from outside Singapore, who could bring fresh insights and perspectives to the problems involved.

The first step taken to give substance to this idea was to check on the availability of Dr Lawrence B. Krause, and to seek the cooperation of the Brookings Institution where he worked as a Senior Fellow. Dr Krause had participated and helped direct three country studies for the Brookings Institution — on the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia — and was known to have professional interest in Singapore. He readily endorsed the idea of a study along the lines above, and the Brookings Institution agreed to give him leave to undertake it.

For the Singapore component of the research team, Dr Koh Ai Tee and Dr Lee (Tsao) Yuan of the Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore, were approached and they too agreed to participate in the study.

Working contacts were also established with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, in terms of access to information and any other assistance required.