ABSTRACT
This chapter examines changes in social welfare in Singapore over the period 1984 to 2011. It analyses the changing trends in Singapore's social welfare in terms of equity and efficiency. To find the change ranking based on Lorenz curve, the generalized Lorenz curve and cardinal Social Welfare Function are used. Bergson (1938) introduced the concept of the Social Welfare Function (SWF), which would depend on the amount of non-labour factors of production employed by each producing unit, the amount of labour supplied by each individual, and the amount of produced goods consumed by each individual. An alternative approach for obtaining a complete ordering is the method of cardinal Social Welfare Function (SWF) that provides numerical values to all possible social states. The Singapore government gives an assurance of affordable healthcare; however, the equity aspect is eclipsed by the ever-increasing emphasis on economic efficiency and financial accountability.
