Project Leader: Prof Woo Wing Thye
The 8th Sustainable Development Goal is to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” While the strategy of export-oriented growth in East Asia has produced rapid rates of economic progress for ASEAN countries, lifting millions out of poverty in the last few decades, imbalances in economic development are beginning to become serious. Specifically, income inequality between income groups within countries is growing rapidly and social mobility is slowing down in the more developed East Asian economies.
Social exclusion and excessive inequality tend to stoke socio-political tensions and generate instability that lower economic growth rates and make growth less sustainable over time. Furthermore, the technological trend of replacing low-skill with machines (e.g. robots) is exacerbating the downward pressure on the income share of the poorest groups. Social programs must respond innovatively to new disruptive technologies that could shatter social harmony even as they prevent stagnation in economic productivity.
This research project aims to uncover how to leverage technological innovation to create circuits of economic activity and work opportunities that would raise the welfare of lower-income and marginalised groups. This project also aims to come up with institutional innovations that would mitigate the negative social impact of disruptive technologies. It is crucial that governments have the knowledge to induce the emergence of technologies that will not only elevate economies up the technological ladder but also to enable the emergence of small players alongside large incumbents, thus, widening the pool of innovators to include those that did not previously participate in the innovation process.
