Singapore is an economic development success story. With three million people, the island ranked in 1990 as the world's eighteenth largest exporter of merchandise, and thirteenth in commercial service exports; merchandise exports were three times those of the whole of India. Singapore's population was one quarter of 1% of China's, but its GNP 9·5%. By the 1990s few commercial decisions relating to Southeast Asia could be taken without reference to Singapore; almost any multinational enterprise, whether in manufacturing or services, planning to expand outside North America, Western Europe or Japan would naturally consider it as a location.

Economic development in Singapore is not new. Rapid late nineteenth century growth had produced a large, modern city on the island by 1900. In 1939, and even more in 1959, when British colonial rule effectively ended, Singapore was a metropolis. Throughout the twentieth century, it has flourished as easily Southeast Asia's most important commercial, transportation and communications centre, and from at least World War I onwards played a global economic role. During the 1950s Singapore already had high per capita income than almost anywhere else in Asia. Post-independence economic development in Singapore therefore began from a strong foundation and with very substantial advantages.

The present book takes this longer-term view of Singapore's economic growth. It concentrates on economic development during the first four decades of the twentieth century, but also links the pre- and post-World War II periods.