Singapore: An Open Economy?

Singapore is a small nation state located at the southern tip of the Malayan Peninsula. It was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 as part of the British colonial empire. Due to its strategic location, astride the sea routes from Europe and India to China and Japan, the British developed Singapore as a free port and centre for entrepot trade i.e. goods are imported from one country and exported to another (Hamilton, 1996, p. 134). The structure of the economy was then developed as an open economy. …