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Syllabus

TopPP5298 Public Policy & Management in Singapore

2013/2014 Semester 2
The maximum size of the class is 40 students.

Instructor:

Lam Chuan Leong
Adjunct Professor
Email: clam2033@gmail.com

Course Description

This module provides a survey of Singapore’s specific strategies and practices in public policy development and implementation. We will focus on the questions: What are the factors that has led Singapore to adopt these strategies, what factors enabled these strategies to produce successful results and what consequences both positive and negative have occured over the 4 decades of their implementation? We will also explore the current challenges that confront policy makers, the nature of these challenges and their possible future evolution.
In particular, we will look at how complexity and cognitive theories can throw light on how these challenges arose and how they may possibly evolve in future. We will look at more current tools being developed to meet these challenges such as public involvement, risk management, crowd sourcing and sensing techniques.

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of the module, the student will be able to:
Understand key principles and values underlying Singapore’s practices in governing the public sector and how these fit into the specific needs and circumstances of Singapore
Understand the rationales for innovative measures in public management and policy development in Singapore
Gather insights into generalizing some of the lessons learnt and the limitations in applying Singapore’s practice to other contexts.
The challenges facing Singapore as it makes the transition into a new generation both socially and technologically.
To be aware and take advantage of the insights from behavioural economics, cognitive psychology and decision-making theories to better their mastery of public policy formulation and implementation.

ECOMMENDED READINGS (BUT NOT COMPULSORY)

Neo, Boon Siong, & Geraldine Chen, 2007, Dynamic Governance: Embedding Culture, Capacities and Change in Singapore, World Scientific

Tan, Say Tin, Leong Foong Lin, Basil Chan Aik Leong, Tan Chien Ming, & Tan Dai Hwee, 2009. Economics in Public Policies: The Singapore Story. Marshall Cavendish Education.

Lee Kuan Yew, 1999, Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew - First Third World to First, Prentice Hall
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness by

Ariely, Dan. Predictably Irrational, The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions, Harpers Collin, 2008

Klein, Gary, Sources of Power, How People Make Decisions, MIT Press 1999

Cialdini, Robert B, The Psychology of Persuasion, Harper Collins 2007.

ASSESSMENT

In determining course grades, the following weights will be used:

                                    Class Participation                                20%


                                    Two Assignment Papers                                    80%


Notes:
Each term paper should not exceed 3000 words. First paper to be handed in at 20 Februrary 2014 and the second paper at 10 April 2014.

There is no Final Exam for this course.

TOPICS AND CLASS SESSIONS

(Class 1)           Introduction
16 Jan 2013

(Class 2)            Elements of success: Background, Strategies, Leadership and Trust
23 Jan 2013

(Class 3)           The 5 Strategies, Part I (Institutions, stability and Environment)
30 Jan 2013

(Class 4)           The 5 Strategies, Part II (Work ethic, competition, seeking excellence)
6 Feb 2013

(Class 5)            The 5 Strategies, Part III (Self reliance, fiscal conservatism, economic rationality and growth)
13 Feb 2013

(Class 6)           The nature and role of Leadership and Implementation
20 Feb 2013

Recess:
(Class 7)            Classical systems analysis and economic rationality
6 Mar 2013
(Class 8)            Management and complexity theory
13 Mar 2013

(Class 9)            Challenges posed by complexity
20 Mar 2013

(Class 10)         Tools for Managing Complexity and uncertainties
27 Mar 2013

(Class 11)         Neuroscience and behavioural economics
3 Apr 2013

(Class 12)         Implications for public policy formulation and implementation
10 Apr 2013

(Class 13)         Summing up
17 Apr 2013

About the Instructor:

Lam Chuan Leong
Lam Chuan Leong is an Ambassador-at-Large with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also Chairman of the Competition Commission of Singapore. His key areas of interest and expertise are in the application of general management theories and also of micro-economics, particularly in regard to regulation of monopolies, competition policy, pricing and market efficiency, privatisation of government services, transport economics, and the structuring of public as well as private financing initiatives.

Chuan Leong has held the post of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry for Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Communications and Information. Earlier he has served in the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister’s Office

Preclusions

TopNIL

Workload

Top3-0-0-3-4

Workload Components : A-B-C-D-E
A: no. of lecture hours per week
B: no. of tutorial hours per week
C: no. of lab hours per week
D: no. of hours for projects, assignments, fieldwork etc per week
E: no. of hours for preparatory work by a student per week