author: Mukhopadhaya, P. 
year: 2003
title: "Trends in income disparity and equality enhancing (?) education policies in the development stages of Singapore"
publisher: International Journal of Educational Development
uri: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0738-0593(01)00051-7
pubtype: article
discipline: education

country: Singapore
period:
maxlength:
targeting:
group:
data:

design:
method:
sample:
unit:
representativeness:
causal: # 0 correlation / 1 causal

theory:
limitations: higher education institutional context may make generalizability outside Singapore harder
observation:
  - intervention: education
    institutional: 0
    structural: 1
    agency: 0
    inequality: migration; generational; income; ethnicity
    type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal
    indicator: 1 # 0 absolute / 1 relative
    measures: Gini coeff; Theil index; relative mean income
    findings: non-uniform representation of academic abilities across parental education backgrounds; education interventions may exacerbate income inequality through bad targeting
    channels: primary income inequality for migrants through between-occupational inequality; advantaged income brackets also advantaged in educative achievement brackets; system of financing higher education in Singapore further disadvantages poorer households
    direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
    significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg

notes: only contains labour market ancillary outcomes but strong arguments for generational inequalities
annotation: |
  A study on the income inequality in Singapore and how national education policies impact this inequality, looking especially at the 'Yearly Awards' scheme and the 'Edusave Entrance Scholarship for Independent Schools'.
  It finds that, generally, income inequality for migrants in Singapore is relatively high, primarily due to generated between-occupational income inequalities and migration policies which further stimulate occupational segregation.
  Then, for the higher-education interventions, it identifies issues which may exacerbate the existing inequalities along these lines:
  Already-advantaged (high-income) households generally stem from non-migration households and are also reflected in higher representation of high-achievement education brackets.
  The education policies thus may exacerbate income inequality through their bad targeting when considering inter-generational academic achievements with high-education households remaining the primary beneficiaries of the policies, a finding which is more significant for the 'Edusave Entrance Scholarship for Independent Schools' than the 'Yearly Awards' scheme which has fewer benefit accruals to wealthier households.
  More generally, the study suggests that the system of financing for higher education in Singapore aiming for providing equal education opportunity for all, may in fact further disadvantage poorer, low-income households that have a low-education parental background.
