Small Economy but Big Lessons: What India and Hungary can Learn from Outward Looking Model of Singapore?

Economic growth is one of the most important jobs for any policy maker. This job becomes more challenging when an economy works in a more interconnected world. In such a globalized world, performances of many smaller economies are path breaking. So it is high time for many big economies of the world to revisit the growth model of smaller economies. Singapore’s outstanding industrial and trade policy have become a great example before the world. Every country’s growth pattern is unique in its own sense. This paper critically examines the three different countries viz. Singapore, India and Hungary’s trade and industrial policy. While observing several arguments that whether the successful result of similar development strategy for every country is possible or not, it is difficult to say that outward looking growth model of a small country like Singapore will certainly offer a big lesson for the smaller economy like Hungary and one of the world’s biggest economies India. It may be difficult to practice, but not impossible that following the growth path of Singapore, both the countries will be able to sustain tremendous growth and economic success. Singapore’s success story gives a valuable message that without government’s proactive role and other conducive factors, no country can progress.