Avoiding the Robin Hood trap

WHILE the details may have been far more nuanced, the big picture ideas behind Budget 2019 have been well-flagged. Modestly counter-cyclical in the headline - from a surplus of S$2.1billion (0.4 per cent of GDP) in FY18 to a deficit of S$3.5 billion (0.7 per cent of GDP) in FY19 - and in the details, replete with multi-faceted measures to boost competitiveness, productivity and up(or right-)skill workers. Arguably, the most ambitious dimension of this Budget, and many to follow, pertains to daunting socio-economic challenges derived from rapidly greying demographics and inequality. And of the two, inequality, which has been notably reframed in a timely manner, is worth examining more closely.

In addressing the issue of inequality (manifesting in both income and wealth), it is critical that the solution was identified at the outset.

Specifically, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat's allusions to social mobility, within the constraints of (financial) sustainability, are critical preconditions to tackle a problem as multi-dimensional and complex as inequality.