News

Is it time to raise taxes on the rich?

March 18, 2021

In a commentary in The Business Times responding to increased petrol duty rates and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on online-bought small-ticket items mentioned in the Singapore Budget 2021 (“Is it time to raise taxes on the rich?”), Professor Sumit Agarwal (NUS Economics; NUS Business School, Department of Economics, Finance and Real Estate) proposes …

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Commentary: The gig economy – a surprise boost from the pandemic and in Singapore, it’s not going anywhere

March 17, 2021

What happens when traditional and regular sources of income, such as from full-time jobs, dry up? Or even income for non-traditional careers, like artists, whose livelihoods were based on public events prior to the pandemic that now, in this new age of social distancing, have become increasingly difficult to organise as a result of COVID-19? …

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Births in Singapore hit decade low as deaths climb to historic peak

March 16, 2021

The Singapore Demographic Bulletin Fourth Quarter 2020 report highlights Singapore’s serious population problem. This report provided provisional figures to suggest that in 2020, Singapore’s birth rate hit a 10-year low while death rates were highest in almost a century. ‘Births in Singapore hit decade low as deaths climb to historic peak’ in The Straits Times …

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National Service and Citizen Soldiers – The Singapore Experience of Military Conscription

March 15, 2021

The National Service (Amendment) Bill was passed on 14th March 1967 and made it compulsory for all 18-year-old male Singaporean citizens and permanent residents to undergo two years of military service. Though modified and modernised in recent years, the bill has retained its original focus and intent over the following half century – to protect …

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University admissions not solely about grades: Some surprise results

March 12, 2021

Last year, Singapore’s two prominent local universities, NUS and NTU, announced that admissions for incoming prospective students would shift away from a purely grades-based criteria, and instead evaluate students’ applications as well as interviews more holistically. This marks the first official and publicised shift in these universities’ perspectives on admissions, as the tacit assumption from …

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Income Robustly Predicts Self-Regard Emotions

March 11, 2021

In “Income Robustly Predicts Self-Regard Emotions” (Emotions, 2021), Associate Professor Eddie Tong (NUS Department of Psychology) and his co-researchers found that income was a directly proportionate indicator of greater positive self-regard emotions and lower negative self-regard emotions. The relationship between income and other-regard emotions (feelings we have for other people), however, was less strong and …

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Peopling Infrastructure: Aeromobilities, Automation and Labour Mobilisations in Asia

March 8, 2021

Strategically located in the Southeast Asian region, Singapore is a leading hub for aviation-related activities. Singapore Changi Airport is seen as the best in the world and is continually undergoing developments, such as the recent unveiling of Jewel Changi Airport on the 7th of March, 2019. In light of Singapore’s goals, ‘Peopling Infrastructure: Aeromobilities, Automation …

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Book Launch – Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (25 Feb 2021)

March 4, 2021

Here are some of the highlights from the book launch of Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford UP, 2020) by Assistant Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia (NUS Department of History)!

A class apart? Meritocracy, social mixing and effects on national unity

March 4, 2021

  In ‘A class apart? Meritocracy, social mixing and effects on national unity’, Grace Ho (Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times) reflects on Singapore’s efforts to manage meritocracy and strengthen national unity across social classes. She draws insights from a new book written by Associate Professors Vincent Chua and Tan Ern Ser (NUS Department of …

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hiring

We are hiring!

March 3, 2021

Call For Applications: Student Researchers at SRN The Singapore Research Nexus (SRN) is a unique academic resource covering the wide range of research on Singapore produced by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). It can be found at http://www.fass.nus.edu.sg/srn/ SRN assists the FASS Research Division with event organization and repository updating. SRN has …

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