THE REVIEW ROOSEVELT@YALE-NUS POLICY JOURNAL ISSUE 3 - SUMMER 2021
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R THE REVIEW ROOSEVELT@YALE-NUS POLICY JOURNAL ISSUE 3 - SUMMER 2021
The Review is a public policy journal publication by Roosevelt Network
Yale-NUS College Chapter. A registered student organisation of Yale-
NUS College, Roosevelt@YNC is a student-run, non-partisan public
policy think tank which provides a platform for Yale-NUS students to be
exposed to and to engage in local issues through the generation and
implementation of progressive policy ideas. This journal is a compilation
of policy memos, opinion pieces, essays, and other research our members
have written throughout Academic Year 2020/21.
Journal Editor and Designer: Ng Jun Jie ('22)
Published by Roosevelt Network Yale-NUS College Chapter, Singapore
© 2021 Roosevelt@YNC
www.roosevelt.commons.yale-nus.edu.sg
www.facebook.com/RNyalenus
www.linkedin.com/company/rnyalenus/
Follow us for more information
Lim Tian Jiao ('23)
President
Tan Hong Kai ('22)
Policy Centre Head for
Economic Development and Strategy
Kaezeel Yeo ('23)
Vice President (Policy)
Alexander Goh ('22)
Policy Centre Head for
Equal Justice & Human Rights
Ng Jun Jie ('22)
Vice President (Organisation)
Heng Jie Min ('22)
Policy Centre Head for
Energy, Technology & the Environment
Alisha Lavendra ('22)
Director of Policy
2
Foreword 4
Highlights 5
Economic Development & Strategy 7
Budding Entrepreneurs from a Young Age
Fostering Entrepreneurship from a Young Age
Is FinTech The Answer to Climate Change?
A contemporary evaluation of the Progressive
Wage Model
Equal Justice & Human Rights 36
Improving Access to Mental Health Resources
for Migrant Construction Workers in
Singapore
No More Corporal Punishment
WeCARE: Expanding childcare awareness to
facilitate employment for single mothers
Accessing Housing in a Meritocratic Society: A
Single Mother’s Reality
Preschools for the People: An Examination of
Singapore’s Early Childhood Education
Landscape, Parts I and II
Silver Support Scheme for More
Energy, Technology & the Environment 79
Stimulating demand for local produce through
a cashback scheme
The Next Step in Singapore’s Food Story:
Encouraging Demand for Local Produce
Singaporean Farmers’ Markets: Building a
culture of “buying local”
Our leadership team took over the reins of Roosevelt@YNC in a time of disruption, as Covid-
19 had rendered much of our regular programming untenable.
However, this shift presented us with an opportunity to experiment boldly. We have adjusted
our training curriculum based on insights from previous iterations, and used our shift to
digital to pursue partnerships with organisations we would never have considered connecting
with before. For instance, we partnered with Roosevelt Network's Yale University Chapter to
launch the inaugural Yale x Yale-NUS Global Policy Hackathon — which saw 170 students
from 26 universities come together for a weekend to tackle internationally pressing issues —
despite a thirteen-hour time difference.
The Review presents Roosevelt@YNC's highlights over the past year. It also consolidates our
members’ written works across our three policy centres: Energy, Technology & the
Environment, Equal Justice & Human Rights, and Economic Development and Strategy. From
food sustainability to migrant workers’ mental health to ground-up entrepreneurship in
Singapore, this edition of the Review contains the largest number of publications to date. We
hope that at least a few of these pieces resonate with you, spark your interest in issue areas, and
inspire you to start thinking about how we may change current systems for the better.
The leadership team would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the staff and faculty at Yale-
NUS College for their guidance: to our Faculty Advisor Tinesh Indrarajah for his willingness
to advise the leadership team and project teams alike; to Vice President (Engagement) Trisha
Craig for her strategic counsel and op-ed expertise; to CIPE Senior Programme Manager
Jenika Kaul and Dean of Students' Office Senior Manager Petrina Loh for their assistance
during our online events; and to many other faculty members for sharpening our project teams’
landscape studies and policy suggestions. Our work this year would not have been possible
without your support.
With that, we invite you to dive into this journal, consider our members’ policy
recommendations, and hopefully leave with new thoughts on how to make Singapore a more
progressive and inclusive society. Happy reading!
On behalf of the Roosevelt@YNC AY2020/21 Leadership Team,
Lim Tian Jia0 (‘23)
3rd President of Roosevelt@YNC
July 2021
4
Policy Curriculum Building on the Policy Guide developed by
(Fall 2020) Roosevelt alumnae Ng Yi Ming (‘21) and Prairie
Soh (‘21), the Leadership Team crafted a new
policy-writing curriculum for our members. We
conducted fortnightly training sessions, where
we introduced our members to the art of writing
policy memos. At the end of the four sessions,
they learned to analyse problems, map out
stakeholders, brainstorm solutions, and evaluate
their policy proposals.
As part of our efforts to acquaint our members Policy-Powered
with public platforms to share their policy ideas, Journalism
we organised a panel with distinguished
(13 Oct 2020)
journalists who shared their insights on op-ed
writing in a media-saturated world. Speaking on
the panel were ST Associate Editor Chua Mui
Hoong, BBC London Senior Journalist Vincent Ni,
and LKYSPP Associate Professor of Practice James
Crabtree. They discussed the role of conventional
print media as a neutral ground, as compared to
the polarity of internet discourse. Our members
left feeling inspired after realising the importance
of a balanced and nuanced policy commentary.
Op-ed Writing Following the policy curriculum, we invited Vice
Workshop President (Engagement) at Yale-NUS College,
Trisha Craig, to conduct an op-ed writing
(20 Oct 2020)
workshop for our members. Recognising the
importance of accessible policy solutions, we
sought to teach our members how to craft
compelling narratives that the general public can
resonate with. Through the workshop, members
refined their writing skills to prepare their ideas
for publication on The Octant, the college's
student-run newspaper.
One of our biggest events as a chapter was the Yale x Yale-NUS Global
Policy Hackathon. After months of deliberation, coordination, planning, and
hard work, the hackathon was held virtually from 19 to 28 February 2021.
170 undergraduate students from 26 schools in four countries came together
to devise critical solutions to today’s problems of green transitioning and
vaccine hesitancy. To help participants grapple with the issues on a deeper
level, we also put together a week-long Global Policy Conference,
comprising workshops and presentations by research professionals to share
about their subject matter expertise and policy-writing experience. More at
https://www.yale-nus.edu.sg/newsroom/virtual-global-policy-hackathon/.
To take a deeper dive into how FinTech can be better FinTech For A
regulated to promote green growth, our members
Greener World
spoke to Professor Duan Jin-Chuan, executive director
of Asian Institute of Digital Finance and Jardine Cycle (6 Apr 2021)
& Carriage Professor at NUS Business School, about
the Bottom-up Greeness (BuG) approach as a supply-
side strategy to promote environmental
sustainability. The hour was spent interrogating the
establishment and implementation of evidence-based
greenness metrics, and how digital technology and
modern analytics can account for them. The
discussion exposed our members to progressive and
innovative ways of keeping corporations accountable
for their role in the green transition.
Policy Deep-Dive Projects (Spring 2021) Publications
Our members worked on diving deeper into various To push our team's
topics of interest and getting to the core of key social publications to a
issues. For instance, Shaharaj Ahmed (‘23) worked wider audience,
hard to dissect arguments surrounding the we cross-published
Progressive Wage Model, speaking to experts, selected pieces on
academics, and community volunteers to give a The Octant and the
nuanced assessment of the model. The deep dive Singapore Policy
projects gave our members a valuable opportunity Journal.
to gain a deeper understanding of social issues of
their interests.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGY
Budding Entrepreneurs from a Young Age
In this policy memo, Choo Wai Keat ('24), Dineshram Sukumar ('24), Htet Myet Min
Tun ('24), Sean Low ('24), Thimali Bandara ('24), and Zen Alexander Goh ('23)
explore how a lack of pre-university entrepreneurship education results in Singaporeans'
perception of themselves as unentrepreneurial despite Singapore's high international
rankings on innovation, and propose that the government build a secondary school-level
nationwide network for students to nurture their entrepreneurial interests, exchange ideas,
and attain mentorship from entrepreneurs and industry experts.
Young Singaporeans lack exposure to entrepreneurship as a viable career, or
entrepreneurial activity, leading to a (2) unconfident of their skills in starting
general sentiment that they are not a business, even if they have the interest.
equipped for the endeavours of These shortcomings carry socio-
entrepreneurship [1]. To counter this, the economic consequences — from
Ministry of Education (MOE) should set prospective entrepreneurs missing out on
up a dedicated body overseeing their dreams, to society potentially
entrepreneurship education at secondary missing out on the next billion-dollar
and pre-tertiary levels to increase idea and the jobs tied to it.
exposure to entrepreneurial activities.
To draw a distinction between actual
Background and Analysis entrepreneurship and other forms of
self/informal employment (e.g. gig
The Global Innovation Index economy micro-entrepreneurship, direct
consistently names Singapore as one of selling, etc.), entrepreneurship is defined
the top 10 strongest innovation sectors as “the activities of an individual or a
globally by government support and group aimed at initiating economic
business ecosystem [2]. Yet, activities in the formal sector under a
Singaporean youths still lag behind their legal form of business” [4]. Given the
ASEAN counterparts in entrepreneurial importance of the innovation sector,
drive, highlighting Singapore’s overall encouraging entrepreneurship has been a
lacklustre entrepreneurial landscape [3]. key policy thrust of the government.
This could be traced back to the fact that However, current initiatives of startup
Singaporean youths lack exposure to incubators, grants and enterprise
entrepreneurship in the mainstream programs do not target the root cause of
education system, which mainly prepares the problem and hence have been
students for the labour market. In the insufficient in improving the
current education system, students are entrepreneurial landscape. These
either (1) closed off to programs are mostly focused on helping
8
entrepreneurs at universities scale up in Singapore. However, students in
their businesses while there are limited mainstream public schools are still
avenues for Singaporean youths to systematically excluded.
acquire startup skills, particularly at the
pre-university level. This creates a Therefore, encouraging entrepreneurship
knowledge gap where students interested education in Singapore is not so much
in entrepreneurship cannot find avenues about reinventing pedagogies, but
to progressively develop their skill set adapting established methodologies such
before being thrown into the deep end. that entrepreneurial education becomes
Additionally, these programs are only accessible to all.
impactful for a small group of
participants; the wider mass of students Talking Points
remain unexposed to entrepreneurship. A Central Body for
The flaws of the existing schemes, Entrepreneurship Education: A
therefore, perpetuate the problem of central dedicated body is tasked to
entrepreneurship being an overly niche expose students to entrepreneurship
path open to only a select few. through mentorship, experiential
opportunities and activities early on,
With entrepreneurship recognised as an before they steer away from
effective means for countries to nurture entrepreneurship indefinitely.
homegrown enterprise champions and Engaging Local Entrepreneurs
create jobs, pedagogies for Directly: Partnering Enterprise
entrepreneurship education are at the Singapore (ESG) and leveraging the
forefront of discourse in many European resources of the National Youth
educational institutes; these offer a Council (NYC) to run this program
playbook for Singapore to adapt from. enables direct access to Singapore’s
There are three ways to teach entrepreneurs in different sectors,
entrepreneurship: Education for facilitates immersive experiences for
Entrepreneurship involves imparting students within the entrepreneurship
concrete business skills to students with ecosystem, and streamlines the
a focus on starting a business; Education process of engaging entrepreneurs.
about Entrepreneurship implies learning A Student-Driven Entrepreneurship
about entrepreneurship as a socio- Community: Networking student
economic phenomenon; Education members of individual school clubs
through Entrepreneurship connotes at the zone level opens up
developing soft business skills in opportunities for ground-up
students through project work [5]. Each collaboration. This creates a
of these pedagogies have different uses conducive, encouraging and
and some are already being implemented accessible community environment
at the more progressive private schools to spark ideas and network, closely
9mirroring the entrepreneurship from which to leverage resources for the
community at large. broader school system. This widens the
reach of NYC’s resources, resulting in
The Policy Idea greater, coordinated progress in
entrepreneurship education.
To provide entrepreneurship education
to all students who are keen, Singapore’s Policy Analysis
MOE should partner with ESG [6] to
establish an industry-backed, centrally Using a combined pedagogy of
managed entrepreneurship interest Education for Entrepreneurship and
group. This group, the Organisation for Education through Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial Incubation (OEI), should will improve entrepreneurial attitudes by
be open to all secondary school students. increasing students’ willingness and
ability to pursue entrepreneurship as a
Governmental Organisation and Interest career [10]. Technical skills workshops
ESG provides direct industry access and allow students to better grasp business
engages entrepreneurs to facilitate this concepts and prime them to take full
program’s execution. Concerned with advantage of the initiatives already
developing the start-up space in offered at universities [11]. The project
Singapore, ESG would hence be component of the curriculum
interested to groom potential consolidates learning in an engaging way
entrepreneurs during their formative and is instrumental in developing soft
years. skills [12] that are equally important for
entrepreneurial success. Together, the
Simultaneously, MOE itself desires to curriculum empowers students to believe
build ‘entrepreneurial dare’ [7] within they have what it takes to successfully
students. start a business, addressing a root cause
of lacklustre entrepreneurial drive in
Between MOE and ESG, responsibilities Singaporean youths [13].
concerning the initial implementation
and longer-term operations of such a Having this Entrepreneurship Club in
system-wide are tentatively divided as secondary schools means nurturing
illustrated in Figure 1 (p.11). students’ interest in entrepreneurship
early on: important because students’
The National Youth Council (NYC) runs interest in entrepreneurship falls with
its own calendar of entrepreneurship- each grade level, according to a US
oriented programs, with a good fielding Gallup poll [14]. The non-highstake
of panelists, advisors and partner environment we propose allows for an
businesses [8]. As NYC is an existing atmosphere where failure is accepted and
partner with MOE [9], it is an avenue not harshly criticised. This mindset of
10Figure 1: Division of responsibilities between MOE and ESG concerning the initial
implementation and longer-term operations of the OEI.
being ‘open to risk and failure’ has been time staff to monitor individual
shown to be crucial to entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship Clubs — ensures they
[15] and important in life. The are run effectively for a long period of
Entrepreneurship Club is efficient time. Notably, school-level clubs will be
because the resources spent on it will connected within their school clusters to
only be used on those who are actually expand entrepreneurial networks,
interested in entrepreneurship, and its facilitating cooperation and interaction
flexibility means that participation in it and leveraging common resource pools.
will not hinder students’ academics or This further allows for collaboration
other passions. across all schools in Singapore, thereby
allowing students the experience of real-
To ensure accountability and equal and world collaboration, and also provides
efficient spread of resources, the them with exposure to other youth and
Entrepreneurship Club will function in their ideas. This can act as a motivation
each school as a chapter of a larger for youth.
umbrella organisation. This central body
will act as the bridge between various Having academic teachers teach
stakeholders, responsible for quality entrepreneurship is one of the main
control and budget allocation across shortcomings of entrepreneurship
schools. Having this larger dedicated education case studies abroad. Our
body — committed with specialised full- policy overcomes this by leveraging
11real-world entrepreneurs of small and Key Facts
medium enterprises (SMEs) as mentors
for the students. These mentors make Studies indicate that the most important
entrepreneurship more intimate and factor in determining whether one opts
relatable for aspiring students, making in to entrepreneurship is the individual’s
students more likely to view an perceived skills to succeed as an
entrepreneurial career more favourably. entrepreneur [16]. Yet, according to
These entrepreneurs would carry out 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
workshops on specific skills, or share (GEM) surveys, only 26.6% of surveyed
about their entrepreneurial journey. Our Singaporean youths felt that they had the
policy recognises and leverages on the skills and technical expertise needed to
vested interests of these stakeholders start a business [17]. Likewise,
(industry partners and entrepreneurs) in Singapore ranked 23 out of 25 selected
having a developed entrepreneurial innovation-driven economies on an
scene. We are confident that the index meant to measure perceived
networking opportunities available when entrepreneurial skills in graduates [18].
working with the government will be Therefore, it is fair to consider the lack
sufficient motivation for SME of entrepreneurial skills training as a
entrepreneurs, as shown by existing significant obstacle to entrepreneurial
NYC partner members. Furthermore, spirit in the Singaporean youth.
participating entrepreneurs will have
access to a pool of talented youth.
References
1. “Youth Conversations Digital Sensing”. 2020. National Youth Council.
https://www.nyc.gov.sg/en/initiatives/resources/youth-conversations/.
2. “Singapore’s IP Ranking”. 2020. IPOS. https://www.ipos.gov.sg/who-we-are/singapore-
ip-ranking.
3. Seow, Joanna. 2019. “Poll: Singapore Youth Less Keen On Being Entrepreneurs Than
Asean Peers”. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/poll-spore-youth-
less-keen-on-being-entrepreneurs-than-asean-peers.
4. Marcotte, Claude. 2013. “Measuring Entrepreneurship At The Country Level: A Review
And Research Agenda”. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development 25 (3-4): 174-194.
doi:10.1080/08985626.2012.710264.
5. Johansen, Vegard. 2012. “Entrepreneurship Education In Secondary Education And
Training”. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational Research 57 (4): 357-368.
6. Enterprise Singapore is a statutory board tasked with nurturing homegrown businesses,
including startups.
127. Ng, Chee Meng. 2017. “Wanted: Joy Of Learning, Entrepreneurial Dare In Students”.
The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/wanted-joy-of-learning-
entrepreneurial-dare-in-students.
8. NYC Members: https://www.nyc.gov.sg/en/about-us/#members
9. NYC Partners: https://www.nyc.gov.sg/omw/partners
10. Moberg, Kåre. 2014. “Two Approaches To Entrepreneurship Education: The Different
Effects Of Education For And Through Entrepreneurship At The Lower Secondary Level”.
The International Journal Of Management Education 12 (3): 512-528.
doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2014.05.002.
11. Startup incubators, grants, networking opportunity, expertise
12. Such as public speaking, communication, networking, project management
13. Students lack confidence to start own business, even if they initially wanted to.
Ács Zoltán J., and Szerb László. The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEINDEX). Boston:
Now Publishers, 2009.
14. Gallup, Inc. 2020. “Minority, Young Students More Entrepreneurially Inclined”.
Gallup.Com. https://news.gallup.com/poll/166808/minority-young-students-
entrepreneurially-inclined.aspx.
15. “Why Should We Bring Entrepreneurship Education To Schools?”. 2020.
Skillsforthefuture.Eu. http://skillsforthefuture.eu/get-inspired/580-why-should-we-bring-
entrepreneurship-education-to-schools.html.
16. Gomulya, David. 2015. “Entrepreneurship In Singapore: Growth And Challenges”. The
Entrepreneurial Rise In Southeast Asia, 35-67.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
13Fostering Entrepreneurship from a Young Age
This op-ed is an extension of the policy memo "Budding Entrepreneurs from a Young
Age" (p.8). Written by Choo Wai Keat ('24), Dineshram Sukumar ('24), Htet Myet
Min Tun ('24), Sean Low ('24), Thimali Bandara ('24), and Zen Alexander Goh ('23).
In today’s world, it is not uncommon to that the Singapore government continues
buy a new pair of shoes on Shopee and to support the innovation sector through
have them delivered to your doorstep via a network of dedicated grants dispersed
Ninja Van. We can book a ride on Grab by numerous agencies. As a result,
(on a phone connected to MyRepublic’s Singapore is now amongst the best [3] in
cellular network) to sell second-hand global innovation.
clothes to a Carousell buyer, then enjoy
a meal paid with Shopback. There’s one Yet, ironically, Singaporean youths are
thing in common with all these activities becoming less entrepreneurial [4].
— they make use of services provided According to the National Youth
by local start-ups, and they bring Council (NYC), Singaporeans are
newfound convenience to our everyday apprehensive about starting companies
lives. as mainstream education does not equip
them [3] with a sufficiently diverse
Beyond that, we depend on startups to range of skills to start a successful
create quality careers for Singapore’s business from scratch. Hence, there is a
workforce and establish new sectors gap [5] between the Ministry of
within the economy. For example, Education (MOE)’s desire to instill
Carousell and Grab started as pioneers in entrepreneurial dare in students and the
the peer-to-peer e-commerce and ride- schooling experience these students
hailing sectors. Now, they are local receive.
champions that employ in excess of
3,000 professionals and empower Entrepreneurship education at the pre-
millions more [1] to make a living tertiary level remains largely
through their platforms. This figure is underdeveloped. Disparate programs like
expected to grow in the future: tech- the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors
enabled startups alone are slated to make Award [6] and limited initiatives from
up 2% of Singapore’s GDP by 2035 [2], NYC provide scarce platforms for early
on par with the tourism sector. entrepreneurship education. To make
matters worse, these programs are not
Given these social and economic made readily accessible to all students in
benefits of entrepreneurship — solving MOE schools. An equity problem hence
long-persistent social problems and arises as such opportunities are only
providing new jobs — it is unsurprising 14accessible to a small pool of students exposed to the fundamentals of
already involved in entrepreneurial entrepreneurship and will have
institutions or who are already “in the opportunities to consolidate their
know.” learning and raise money for their
schools through starting social
To leverage the full potential of enterprises or Community Involvement
entrepreneurship programs, we need to Projects [8].
make them accessible to every student.
However, developing and implementing With MOE’s institutional support, such
a nationwide entrepreneurship subject resources could be efficiently extended
curriculum has its fair share of to the wider education system. The CCA
difficulties. It is hindered by the need to system enables multiple schools to
focus on core academic subjects, and a aggregate interest and coordinate larger-
lack of specialised instructors within scale activities beyond what is feasible
MOE to ensure the program’s fruition. within individual schools by involving
This deprives many students of an external collaborations and
education in entrepreneurship and the contributions, such as large-scale talks
opportunities to cultivate the skills of by prominent entrepreneurs, national
business. case competitions and zone-based
fundraising fairs.
To develop Singaporean youths’
entrepreneurial spirit, early stage Further, skills workshops will allow
education is vital. Studies by the World students to better grasp business
Bank [7] suggest that equipping students concepts and prime them to take full
with entrepreneurial knowledge at earlier advantage of the suite of initiatives the
levels of education is far more effective government already offers at Institutes of
in nurturing a student’s knack for and Higher Learning, such as startup
passion towards entrepreneurship incubators, grants, networking
careers. opportunity, and expertise. The project-
based deliverables of the CCA
As such, we believe that MOE should consolidate learning in an engaging way
implement a nationwide and will develop soft skills [9] that are
entrepreneurship education programme, equally important in entrepreneurial
supported by the Enterprise Singapore success.
and NYC — organisations which are
sufficiently capable and experienced to A key shortcoming of entrepreneurship
deliver such a program. To overcome education abroad is that school teachers
curriculum constraints, this program will teach the subject, even though they are
operate as a Co-Curricular Activity not necessarily well-equipped to do so
(CCA) featuring chapters in every [9]. To remedy this, our proposal seeks
secondary school. Students will be to leverage real-world entrepreneurs as
15students’ mentors. Through sharings and (namely the Eunoia Junior College and
workshops, these mentors will make Singapore Management “University X”
entrepreneurship more relatable for buildings). This frees up the annual
aspiring students. All in all, the budget to be directed towards developing
curriculum can empower students to and implementing this CCA.
believe that they have what it takes to
successfully start a business, addressing In the coming years, as the region
the root cause [10] of lacklustre becomes more competitive, innovation
entrepreneurial drive in Singaporean and entrepreneurship will be key drivers
youths. of Singapore’s economy. It is vital for
our youth to be equipped with skills,
Given the clear returns on economic provided exposure, and ultimately be
development, comparatively low imbued with the entrepreneurial spirit
operational cost, and alignment with necessary to navigate that future. Our
government interest to develop the industry-backed CCA program responds
startup environment, this policy is to all three fronts, and can lead to the
financially viable. Furthermore, many creation of more life-changing platforms
large MOE infrastructure development in the future that share Grab and
projects have recently been concluded Carousell’s revolutionary success.
References
1. Lee, Yoolim. “Grab to Double Singapore Staff to 3,000 in Latest Expansion.”
Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, March 29, 2019.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-29/grab-to-double-singapore-staff-to-
3-000-in-latest-expansion.
2. “Singapore’s Tech Enabled Startup Ecosystem”. 2015. Pwc.Com.
https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/microsite/media/assets/startup-google.pdf.
3. Dutta, Soumitra, Bruno Lanvin, and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent. Global Innovation Index.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2018.
4. Seow, Joanna. “Poll: Singapore Youth Less Keen on Being Entrepreneurs than Asean
Peers.” The Straits Times, August 17, 2019. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/poll-
spore-youth-less-keen-on-being-entrepreneurs-than-asean-peers.
5. Ministry of Education. “MOE FY 2017 Committee of Supply Debate Speech by
Minister of Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng.” Speeches/Interviews. Accessed
December 26, 2020. https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/speeches/moe-fy-2017-committee-of-
supply-debate-speech-by-minister-of-education-schools-ng-chee-meng.
6. Tan Kah Kee Foundation. “About Young Inventors’ Awards.” Tan Kah Kee Foundation.
Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.tkkfoundation.org.sg/young-inventors-awards.
167. Valerio, Alexandria, Brent Parton, and Alicia M. Robb. Entrepreneurship Education and
Training Programs around the World Dimensions for Success. Washington, DC: World
Bank, 2014.
8. Community Involvement Projects; a mandatory part of the local curriculum where
students plan and carry out projects that benefit their immediate community. Projects range
from food drives to service learning trips abroad.
9. Neck, Heidi M., and Andrew C. Corbett. 2018. “The Scholarship Of Teaching And
Learning Entrepreneurship”. Entrepreneurship Education And Pedagogy 1 (1): 8-41.
doi:10.1177/2515127417737286.
10. Ács Zoltán J., and Szerb László. The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEINDEX).
Boston: Now Publishers, 2009.
17Is FinTech The Answer to Climate Change?
In this op-ed, Htet Myet Min Tun ('24) and Choo Wai Keat ('24) explore the possibilities
the Bottom-up Greenness (BuG) approach may bring to climate change solutions.
Over the last two centuries, the human environmental degradation aim to alter
population has exploded nearly eight consumption demand. Many current
times over, to 7.9 billion in 2021. With measures, such as the rise of conscious
this comes an acceleration in the level of consumerism, tend to be based on
environmental degradation, as nature arousing a sense of guilt and shame, as
fights a losing battle against the ever- well as generally raising awareness of
growing demands of people on the alternatives. Yet, these tactics may not
planet. In an attempt to fulfill growing be sufficiently powerful and long-lasting
demands, technological advances — to fundamentally change the course of
such as agritech, commercial agriculture, environmental conservation. This is
and fishing — have even emerged as the particularly so in developing countries,
main catalysts and culprits of the level of where price sensitivity remains the most
deterioration we have witnessed and poignant factor in people’s minds as they
continue to witness today. opt for cheaper solutions which can
guarantee survivability, regardless of the
In a talk titled FinTech For A Greener impact they exact on the environment.
World hosted by Roosevelt Network
Yale-NUS College Chapter, Professor At the root of these problems are
Duan Jin-Chuan (shown in Image 2, misaligned economic incentives. When
p.21), Executive Director at Asian push comes to shove, many consumers
Institute of Digital Finance and Jardine opt for low-cost, environmentally
Cycle & Carriage Professor at National damaging solutions because the
University of Singapore (NUS) Business environmental toll of using these
School, proposed that technology does products is largely invisible. To
not always need to be a part of the effectively discourage people from
problem, but rather a solution to cure the adopting environmentally unsustainable
deteriorating environment. In fact, the actions in their production and
Bottom-up Greenness (BuG) approach consumption requires an approach which
based on financial technology will be the forces individuals to internalise the full
most forward-looking solution to environmental costs of their actions.
environmental degradation.
On the other hand, a supply-side strategy
The Need for a Supply-Side Strategy is characterised by changing how goods
and services are produced and delivered,
Currently, most approaches to address curbing production before it can even 18begin to morph into a demand-side would consider the aforementioned
problem. evidence-based greenness metrics and
grant greener companies concessional
Some existing policies do employ this loans. A bank’s regulatory compliance
approach — for instance, would rest on whether its portfolio has
Environmental, Social and Corporate satisfied greenness standards, and hence,
Governance (ESG) rating agencies banks would be encouraged to offer
penalise companies if their more concessional loans to greener
environmental record is less than ideal, entities. In such a model, all players are
while environmental non-governmental economically incentivised to strive
organisations (NGO) seek to expose towards environmental sustainability.
companies’ malpractices and raise
awareness of environmental issues. Prof. Duan highlights that a pilot using
the BuG model is slated to be launched
These measures force companies to bear by the Asian Institute of Digital Finance
some of the negative externalities in Indonesia’s palm oil industry.
resulting from their actions. However,
Prof. Duan argues that both are not In this model, using the Internet of
flawless, as the former relies on Things (IoT), data on palm oil
commercial entities which may have smallholders’ key environmental
alternative motivations, whereas the behaviours, such as their green practices
latter has now reached a plateau and is and the level of environmental pollution
reaping increasingly diminishing they cause, can be collected, using
marginal returns. satellite images and IoT devices. The
research team plans to work with a NGO
Enter the Bottom-up Greenness (BuG) to establish standards for determining
Approach greenness scores and equip university
students with skills to assign these scores
The (BuG) approach could address the to smallholders on the ground.
issue of economic incentives and apply a Subsequently, research institutes will
supply-side strategy to promote develop a supervised machine learning
environmental sustainability. This model, which scales up the IoT system
strategy rests on two key pillars — to more palm oil smallholders, and with
technology and economic incentives. For a larger sample, generate predicted
the former, the application of digital greenness scores. The greenness scores
technology and use of modern analytics of these smallholders affect that of other
can establish an evidence-based nodes in the palm oil supply chain, i.e.
greenness measurement infrastructure the greenness score for a node in the
and enable prediction and aggregation in supply chain — for instance, a palm oil
supply chains. For the latter, financial mill or a palm oil company — is
institutions such as banks partially determined by the greenness
19scores of the suppliers it sources from. potential.
This illustrates BuG’s unique ecosystem- Firstly, BuG may be difficult to
level approach. Since greenness scores implement on the ground, as the
are assigned not at palm oil companies incentives of different stakeholders may
themselves but tied to every node of the not align to the extent that they are
palm oil companies’ supply chain, willing to cooperate on such a project.
should compel companies to take This might result in an unwillingness to
ownership at every step of the way. adopt the BuG framework because the
environmental objective of every
At the same time, the BuG approach also institution differs. For example, NGO-
accrues several benefits. Firstly, the set standards might be higher than what
provision of concessional loans to companies are willing to achieve.
smallholders would increase financial
inclusion, as these entities can more Next, the feasibility of this policy may
easily gain access to capital. Secondly, be up for contention. The BuG is mainly
the assignment of greenness scores is targeted at entities in developing
now bottom-up and more accurate, as countries. However, these countries may
opposed to a top-down process rooted in lack sufficient infrastructure and
third-party observations. Thirdly, audits administrative capacity to manage
can be easily conducted to maintain stringent tracking and oversight
system integrity, and feedback can be requirements. This is compounded by
smoothly provided to improve existing the fact that a significant proportion of
procedures. Crucially, auditors can also financial transactions in developing
help to champion environmental countries occur via informal means.
sustainability to the population at large,
as they are equipped with the knowledge Lastly, even upon project launch, the
and expertise in this domain. BuG mechanism will be primarily run by
financial institutions. This could lead to
This then creates a win-win system for the recurrence of malpractice that
all stakeholders, where greenness is currently plagues ESG systems, such as
integrated into every step of the supply the possibility of established companies
chain. “gaming the system” to achieve high
ratings on paper. Thus, for the BuG
Potential Roadblocks approach to realise its full potential,
greater government oversight might be
BuG provides an innovative alternative needed in structuring these
to the current ESG ecosystem. However, collaborations.
we acknowledge that there may remain
some practical limitations which could Can Bottom-Up Greenness be the
hinder the maximum realisation of its answer?
20In conclusion, BuG is an approach that processes and leverage on the strengths
can be highly effective under certain of different players to fashion solutions
conditions: stakeholder incentives must and foster a more environmentally
align; the environmental issue at hand friendly economy and society. The
must be easily resolvable without the emerging FinTech industry has great
presence of entrenched interest groups potential to do so. It is our hope that this
who stand to gain from the status quo; potential can be translated into policy,
and efficient institutions must execute action, and reality in the near future.
the policy.
Image 2:
We acknowledge that this may not
Professor
always be possible due to the different
Duan Jin-Chuan.
circumstances of every industry and
country. As such, the BuG approach can
serve as a useful complement to other
less market-friendly approaches, such as
demand-side strategies based on nudging
perception or governmental legislation.
Roosevelt Network Yale-NUS College
As the world approaches a critical Chapter would like to convey its deepest
juncture in our fight against climate appreciation to Prof. Duan for his
change, it is now more urgent than ever
insightful sharing.
to conduct a thorough review of existing
21A contemporary evaluation of the Progressive Wage Model
In this op-ed, Shaharaj Ahmed ('23) argues that the Progressive Wage Model is flawed on
several premises. An abridged version of this piece is slated to be published in the
Singapore Policy Journal.
Public consensus that Singapore’s low- example, if you are a cleaner and take a
skill workers need to be paid more has course to become a specialised waste
sparked calls for more progressive and disposal cleaner, then you get paid a
robust labour laws, including wage higher wage. The PWM is currently
interventions such as the minimum being implemented in the landscaping,
wage. The government has acceded, in cleaning, and security industries.
some way, through their own solution to However, realistically, this notion of
the issue of stagnating low wages with career development and increased
the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). productivity for low-skilled jobs in these
The PWM has been touted by some top industries is impossible to achieve for
government officials as “Minimum two reasons: a lack of room for increased
Wage Plus” [1] because on top of efficiency and a lack of promotion
stipulating a basic wage, it also provides opportunities.
a clear structure for Singapore’s lowest
workers to raise their wages by taking The most basic reason as to why a
courses and more responsibilities in worker may not be able to increase their
order to qualify for higher level positions productivity is that there simply is no
and other promotions. more room for efficiency. In many of the
jobs where the PWM is applicable —
In theory, the policy seems ideal. security, cleaning, and landscaping — if
However, in practice, it has limitations a worker is operating at their full
which many talk about but few truly capacity, then chances are that is the full
understand. In this piece, I will be productive capacity of any worker. This
explaining the limitations of the PWM, argument becomes clearer once we
particularly its effects on productivity realise that there is nothing inherent
and wages, legal ambiguity, and cost of about these jobs that require skills,
implementation. significant training, or education.
Whereas to be a doctor or a soccer
Productivity player, one needs innate skill and/or
many years of training, to be a cleaner is
As mentioned, the PWM codifies into to merely clean. If a dishwasher can only
policy the practice of increased wash 40 dishes an hour with current
productivity for increased pay. For technology, then there is no way for the
22PWM to raise that rate to increase the positions such as a senior security
dishwasher’s productivity. The only way supervisor in the security industry. This
to increase the productivity of that seems to be a critical flaw of the PWM:
worker is to increase the technological to assume that specialist roles will
capabilities of that worker. In a video continue to be produced, thus allowing
interview, Mr. Raj Joshua Thomas, junior workers to abdicate their
Nominated Member of Parliament and generalist roles, without rewarding the
President of the Security Association workers who continue to shoulder the
Singapore, argued that employers, at base responsibilities of the organisation.
least in the security industry, should
invest in technology to expand the job For example, let us observe the career
scope of security guards [2]. Thus, while ladder for a cleaner in the Group 3
proponents may laud the PWM for cluster of the cleaning industry, as
stipulating a recommended wage band illustrated in Figure 3 (p.24). A cleaner
that employees can use to negotiate for starts out with a base pay of S$1,442.
higher wages, there is little demonstrable While it is desirable from the cleaner’s
productivity increases that employees perspective to take courses to become a
can offer to justify wage increases unless supervisor and gain a base pay of
the industry itself invests in better S$1,854, it is also in their colleagues’
technology and allows workers to use interests to take these same courses to
said technology after training. qualify as a supervisor. Hence, there is
collective upward pressure for an already
The other main method through which scarce job. Thus, while there is a worker
the PWM promotes productivity is who does get promoted to the
career promotion. This is an unlikely managerial position (assuming it is open)
prospect in the industries the PWM is and gains a higher salary, the PWM does
currently implemented in — security, nothing for the worker who is forced to
landscaping, and cleaning. In these remain in the bottom rungs of the ladder
industries, senior positions — scarce to despite being qualified to be promoted,
begin with — are always filled up. Many because at the end of the day, someone
security guards, despite taking the time has to do the general cleaning. Let us,
to undertake courses and training however, assume a case where it is
certifications to qualify for senior possible for everyone to be a supervisor
positions, often fail to get promoted and gain higher pay. Who then will do
because there is no space on the upper the general cleaning? It is this
rung [3]. At the end of the day, with a inflexibility of the PWM to recognise
pyramid hierarchy, most workers will that most workers will not be able to
have to do general, mundane work and climb the PWM ladder because of the
only some will be selected for specialist lack of vacant senior positions that
work such as lift maintenance in the makes the promise of increased
landscaping industry or managerial productivity a myth. This is evidenced
23by the fact that most PWM industries, ‘worthy’ if they are lower on the career
particularly the security industry, are ladder. For those at the bottom, this can
suffering from manpower crunches in mean an income that does not meet their
junior positions, not senior ones. basic needs, even as they are employed
Everyone wants to be a manager. and work as best as they can. In addition,
it implies that the essential base of
This flaw indicates the presence of a general workers are less deserving, even
more problematic ideology pervading though these workers are responsible for
our conversations around income the bulk of daily operations.
inequality: that workers are ‘worthy’ of
more pay if they are higher up on the Furthermore, in real life, the PWM
career ladder, and conversely, not theory of raising productivity falls into
Figure 3: Career ladders for the cleaning industry [4].
24more issues. While in the discussion labourers. Many Singaporean residents
above we maintain the assumption that in the PWM industries tend to be older
getting promoted means the worker and hence less able and slower.
receives differentiated and advanced Consequently, firms prefer to hire
work, employers may not have that type foreign workers at the higher rungs of
of work. Mr. Thomas noted in an the PWM ladder [6], leaving elderly
interview with Rice Media that for the Singaporean workers at the lower rungs
security industry, “[t]here is very little of the PWM ladder. Professor of
difference between a Level 1 officers’ Economics at University of Michigan,
job scope and a Level 2 officer, and even Prof. Linda Lim, corroborates this
between Level 2 officers and Level 3 through her research, which found that
supervisor.” Career development is employers tend to hire more able,
theoretical, at this stage, for most PWM younger foreign workers to fill up the
workers [5]. upper roles, rather than older local
residents, since they are able to gain
Wages more economic value from their
employees this way.
The PWM also does not effectively raise
wages for low-wage Singaporean The second structural issue is the
workers, on six counts: PWM’s inability to manage the mass
1. it does not sufficiently encourage the inflow of foreign labour into PWM-
promotion of elderly Singaporean covered labour-intensive industries,
workers; which Prof. Lim has credited as the main
2. it does not take into consideration the depressors of wage growth for low-
mass inflow of foreign labour; skilled labour in Singapore [7]. Hiring
3. the stipulated basic wage becomes a agencies have relied on foreign labour
stagnant wage floor due to market due to many reasons, key amongst them
oversaturation and a lack of business is costs. Particularly for the PWM
interest in raising wages; industries, which face an aging
4. it does not ensure stability of the workforce and labour shortages due to
increased wages when companies the unattractiveness of the roles, hiring
change; foreign workers is an easier solution than
5. its expansion into new industries offering higher wages for older workers.
reduces gross wages; and Thus, the inability of the PWM to
6. it does not provide a livable wage. contend with foreign labour inflows
prevents industry-wide wage growth,
Firstly, the claim that PWM helps raise denying Singaporeans in such industries
the productivities and incomes of low- higher wages.
wage Singaporean workers is nullified
by the employment practices of firms We should note that foreign hiring is not
and the demographics of the low-wage a problem in all industries. Mr. Thomas
25reminds us that this is not the practice in demand. Mr. Thomas mentioned that
the security industry due to various roughly 95% of the roughly 250 security
regulations on hiring foreign workers. agencies in the industry are small,
indicating small barriers to entry and exit
The third limitation of the PWM is that for firms within the industry. As a
ironically it becomes a sticky wage floor. solution, he and his team have proposed
A sticky wage floor is a situation in setting up higher barriers to entry into
which workers are unable to gain higher the industry, such as raising the initial
wages beyond the legal minimum. This paid-up capital. However, these are yet
could occur for a variety of reasons. One to be legislated or adapted into policy.
direct cause of this sticky wage floor is Since the PWM does not regulate
the market saturation in these industries. foreign labour inflows or industry-wide
As a consequence of excess supply, practices, it may be good to expand the
cleaning, landscaping, and security scope of the PWM to tackle these issues
outsourcing companies usually outbid if we hope to drive up the wages of low-
each other to offer the lowest contract income Singaporeans.
price possible (which companies are
inclined to accept). This means that Another reason for the sticky wage floor
workers in these job types are paid the is that there are no incentives for
lowest wages legally possible. Mr. employers to pay workers any higher.
Thomas shared that the trade association The most vivid remark I came across on
has received sufficiently alarming this topic was from Channel NewsAsia’s
feedback on regulatory infractions made (CNA) interview with Mr. Steve Tan,
by some security agencies, which flout who is the executive secretary of the
PWM rules to underbid competitors [8]. Union for Security Employees. He
These regulatory infractions demonstrate disclosed to CNA that in his tripartite
that market saturation has evolved to the negotiations, he came across a buyer
point that firms are willing to depress who said “[the] same (security) uncle
wages to survive, even to the point of before and after? Why should I pay you
breaking the law. S$50 more?” [10]. While policy-wise,
the PWM actually provides a wage
Consequently, even when demand for bracket as a guide for firms to pay their
services such as cleaning, dishwashing, workers for each level, practically, firms
security, or landscaping increases, wages are incentivised to pay the bare
remain stagnant. Professor of Social minimum [11].
Work at the National University of
Singapore (NUS), Prof. Irene Ng, posits Upon reflecting on this last comment, it
[9] that when demand rises, more firms seems that there is a case where
enter already saturated industries and employers might be prepared to pay a
each bid to the lowest point possible, higher wage — if workers take on more
driving wages down despite a rise in responsibility. However, as previously
26pointed out, there is realistically little indicates an unhealthy obsession with
room for workers to do so. Thus, the capitalist accumulation. Furthermore, the
interaction between wage and fact that many security agencies often
productivity hampers upward mobility bid contracts with the lowest contract
under the PWM regime. value indicates the presence of
employers more concerned with
Mr. Thomas, however, disagreed on this maximising their dollars rather than
point, replying that security workers do paying fairer wages to the workers
in fact have leeway in negotiating higher providing the service. While it is not
wages. One negotiating tactic is to use problematic to want services that are as
the fact that Covid-19 has increased efficient and valuable as possible, it is
demand for security workers through problematic when in doing so one’s
government initiatives such as SafeEntry workers are not paid what is needed to
booths, which increases the manpower survive (as demonstrated later in the
needed by security agencies. It is piece).
important to note that this induced
demand is, however, temporary. Another Fourth, wage gains from the PWM are
more substantial negotiating tactic is to unstable as they are constantly under
remind security agencies of the threat of being reset to the base salaries.
manpower crunch they are facing. As Prof. Ng documents that whenever the
noted by Rice Media and later confirmed hiring firm puts out a tender for another
by Mr. Thomas, many junior positions in outsourcing firm for its cleaning,
security agencies nation-wide are vacant. landscaping, or security needs, there is a
However, it can also be argued that high chance that the incumbent
despite facing labour shortages, outsourcing firm will lose the tender and
employers in the security industry may have to leave the current location. If the
choose to forego hiring workers rather incumbent outsourcing firm loses the
than pay higher wages. Thus, while tender and is forced to move, its
PWM-covered workers may have some employees have two options: move with
flexibility in negotiating for higher it or stay at their current location.
wages, gains from negotiation are not Employees usually choose to stay due to
likely to be too substantial. a factor of reasons such as proximity
from home. If they choose to stay, their
Altogether, the presence of a wage floor wages become reset to base amounts
indicates a more troubling issue: the [12]. This is due to the fact that in the
presence of a culture that is obsessed PWM’s implementation any experience
with cost rather than welfare. The above or skills gains made under the PWM are
example of an employer haggling over a recognised and rewarded within the firm
wage increase of S$50 that would have alone, and cannot be transferred. Though
clearly benefited the low-income worker the theoretical practice should be that all
more than it would have to themselves firms in the industry recognise the
27experience of the worker holistically, the the next few months if the PWM is
incoming outsourcing company expanded into other sectors.
ultimately aims to bid the lowest
contract, and so, are unable to pay more The final limitation of the PWM’s ability
to experienced employees due to a lack to raise wages is its inability to provide a
of funds. Thus, even if an employee liveable wage. A group of academics
were to work in the same industry for 8 from the Nanyang Technological
years, any progress on the PWM ladder University (NTU), NUS, Duke-NUS,
and gains in wages would be reset if the and Beyond Social Services conducted a
outsourcing company were to change. study to ascertain the Minimum Income
Standard (MIS) in Singapore, and found
Fifth, though expanding the PWM into that for a household of a single
other industries increases basic wages of individual aged between 55 and 64, the
workers, there is evidence that gross minimum income standards were
wages fall. Recently, the Singaporean S$1,721, assuming that the individual
government has discussed expanding the does not have any ‘chronic conditions
PWM into other industries such as food and major illnesses’ [14].
and retail services. In his undergraduate
thesis, Mr. Kenneth Ler, a NUS Mr. Lim Jingzhou, a community worker,
graduate, found that though there was an calculated [15] how much PWM workers
increase in basic wages after PWM came in different industries make, accounting
into effect, they found a decrease in for Workfare Income Supplement (WIS)
gross wages (e.g. overtime pay, payouts, a subsidy to boost the monthly
allowance, bonus) [13]. One hypothesis wages of employees and self-employed
for this, which I believe to be most likely workers who are paid below S$2,300.
given the employment culture, is that He found that for a worker in the
employers cut down these benefits in cleaning industry within the age band of
order to comply with the PWM 55-59 takes home S$1,185.39, as shown
regulations, while also maintaining in Figure 4 (p.30). For this type of
competitive contracts. Another household, it is clear that the wages
hypothesis which Mr. Ler proposed, and offered by the PWM, accompanied by
Mr. Thomas independently brought up, WIS payouts, will not be sufficient to
was how these bonuses were to be used meet baseline income standards, as
in order to reward productivity in the illustrated in Figure 5 (p.30). However,
true spirit of the PWM. However, it is the PWM does meet the basic income
not clear why current employees must standards for single elderly households
face a reset in their allowances and (elderly defined as those beyond the age
bonuses if they’ve worked with an of 64), as Mr. Lim finds that workers in
employer for many years before the the age band of those greater than 65
PWM was implemented. Thus, it is earn S$1,662, versus the baseline income
likely that we are to witness this effect in requirements of this type of households
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