The line between public servants and private property

[SINGAPORE] Recently, a working paper published by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reported a statistical association between civil servants working in agencies connected to rail planning and their purchase of private property near planned MRT stations, before the station locations were publicly announced.

According to the non-profit organisation’s research, civil servants in Singapore disproportionately bought homes near MRT stations that were planned but not publicly announced.

The paper found this behaviour concentrated one to two years before public announcements, and cited an estimated 113 property purchases totalling S$138 million. The pattern was observed for MRT station announcements in or before 2011.