ABSTRACT
Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore for thirty-one years, titled the second volume of his memoirs The Singapore Story: From the Third World to the First. 1 Commenting on the subtitle, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan noted that it “expresses the aspiration of all developing countries but so far, alas, an achievement of very few. Singapore is one of those few.” 2 Singapore’s economic success story is by now well known and pretty much taken for granted by its citizens. The explanation of that success is more elusive.
