This case study examines the evolution of Singapore’s fiscal policy from independence in 1965 to the post-pandemic era, highlighting the country’s distinctive approach to public financial management. Long seen as a global exemplar of fiscal prudence, Singapore’s fiscal rules—such as the two-key mechanism, Balanced Budget Rule and Net Investment Returns framework—have helped build sizable sovereign reserves and avoided debt-financed deficits. Yet this conservatism has also drawn domestic criticism for limiting redistributive spending and intergenerational fairness. The case explores how constitutional safeguards, institutional innovation, and political ideology have shaped fiscal decision-making across decades. It also delves into more recent reforms, such as the 2021 SINGA law allowing infrastructure borrowing, and growing public debate over taxation and inequality. This case offers broader insights into the trade-offs between fiscal sustainability, social equity and political legitimacy in long-term economic governance.

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/310498

This case explores the need for a comprehensive vaccine injury compensation framework in Singapore, focusing on gaps beyond COVID-19 coverage. Using the BCG vaccine and BCGosis as examples, it highlights the challenges faced by affected families. Comparative insights from Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand illustrate alternative approaches to funding, causality standards, and administration. The case examines the tensions between sustaining public health efforts and ensuring justice for rare adverse events, engaging key stakeholders such as policymakers, public health authorities, and the public.

Merit Prize - LKYSPP Case Writing Competition 2024/25

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/309991

In the decades since independence, Kazakhstan has implemented a multitude of reforms aimed at improving the educational system for the modernisation and future of the country. This is seen as an integral component of its goal to join the top thirty developed countries by year 2050, This case study explores existing challenges to the public high school system in Kazakhstan. It considers what would be an optimal course of action for improving the high school given the country’s size, demographics, linguistic tradition and economic conditions.

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy Case Study Series

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/310497

Synopsis - This case study examines a significant policy shift in Iran addressing the statelessness of children born to Iranian women and non-Iranian men, particularly Afghan and Iraqi nationals. Rooted in gender-discriminatory citizenship laws, this issue left over 110,000 children without legal nationality. In 2019, sustained advocacy by Iranian civil society led to a legal amendment allowing mothers to pass on citizenship. The case highlights the drivers of reform, the role of grassroots mobilisation, and the bureaucratic and political barriers to implementation. It offers broader insights into how legal identity, human rights, and governance intersect in the context of nationality policy reform.

Link to PDF - https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/310330

This case study examines the challenges experienced by platform workers in Singapore, particularly considering evolving industry trends and policy responses. Despite the flexibility offered by platform work, they face systemic issues such as financial insecurity, insufficient workplace protection and limited representation. Further, their classification as ‘self-employed’ restricts access to benefits typically offered to regular employees. The case study also explores the role of Platform Work Associations in addressing these issues, highlighting their limitations in providing effective, long-term solutions. By analysing these dynamics, the case study discusses potential policy options, with a particular focus on the Platform Workers Act. It examines how the provisions under the Act address gaps while identifying areas where challenges persist.

Merit Prize - LKYSPP Case Writing Competition 2024/25

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/309989

This case study explores the gendered challenges that women face in the gig economy in India. It highlights the policy-level, sociocultural-level and company-level challenges that hamper women’s participation in the gig economy. It presents three policy options to address these concerns: maintain the status quo; improve legislation but keep limited company accountability and sociocultural barriers unchanged; and improve legislation that results in company accountability.

Merit Prize - LKYSPP Case Writing Competition 2024/25

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/309990

This case study explores Singapore’s digitalisation journey in the past decade from 2014 to 2024. Beginning with the Smart Nation 1.0 initiative in 2014, it provides an overview of digitalisation initiatives before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and traces notable digitalisation programmes since then. It also discusses key issues that the country faced along the way and how the government responded. The case study outlines digitalisation efforts in select countries that may help bolster Singapore’s digitalisation policy, before zeroing in on the emerging trends that may shape the country’s future digital landscape.

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/309074

Amid the escalating climate crisis, demand-side emissions mitigation strategies – engaging individuals and communities to adopt sustainable consumption and green lifestyles – hold immense promise for meeting global climate goals. As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China has increasingly embraced demand-side mitigation policies to tackle climate issues and transition toward a low-carbon future. However, this transition is hindered by challenges including the high costs of low-carbon alternatives, social resistance, and the difficulty of sustaining long-term behavioural changes, as this case study identifies. Moreover, it explores three categories of policy options for demand-side climate mitigation within the “Carrot-Stick-Sermon” policy instrument framework by drawing lessons from international strategies. Finally, it evaluates seven demand-side mitigation policies implemented by the Chinese government, demonstrating that widespread social and behavioural changes require complementary use of these instruments and tailored adaptation to specific national conditions.

Merit Prize - LKYSPP Case Writing Competition 2024/25

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/309988