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This article analyzes Singapore's asset-enhancing policies to finance retirement. These policies have been pursued through reliance on the mandatory savings pillar administered by the Central Provident Fund (CPF). The analysis suggests that emphasizing physical assets such as housing and the inappropriate design of a preretirement financial investment scheme has created distortions in the economy, has limited policy flexibility, and has led to inadequate and inequitable retirement financing. The article suggests a shift to a multitier strategy to address the above shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, insights from behavioral economics, which incorporates observed behavior of homo-sapiens into analytical framework, have been increasingly applied to a wide range of issues. This framework which borrows from psychology and other disciplines has challenged many of the explanations of human behavior based on the traditional concepts of economic rationality. This paper analyzes the relevance of such insights for retirement financing in Asia. Rapid individual and population aging have made achieving social security in old age among the major challenges facing Asia. The paper focuses on the extent to which the mandatory savings schemes, which enable retirement savings to be separated from other types of savings, and are consistent with psychological theories of savings, prevalent in many Asian countries. The paper concludes with suggestions for enhancing retirement income security in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes bilateral economic relations between India, a low income country, and Singapore, a small affluent city-state. Importance of India to Singapore; Importance of Singapore to India; Strategic economic relationship between India and Singapore.

This first presents an overview of the level and structure of taxation in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. It then briefly reviews the available literature on tax reform, country by country. It finally gives a comparative analysis, focusing primarily on tax mix and tax structure, and the importance attached to tax administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]