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THE PRIMARY INFORMATION SECTOR IN SINGAPORE, JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES
Abstract
This paper attempts a quick analysis of the information sector in Singapore, Japan and the United States using the input-output methodology. An alternative way of computing the scalars to bisect a sector into two, namely information and non-information sectors, is used. From the empirical analysis, it is found that the information sector in Singapore has still some way to go before approaching the levels as found in Japan and the United States. Within Singapore, the information sector is a natural extension of the tertiary or service sector and its dominance and linkages reflect the service orientation of the Singapore economy. The information sector plays a crucial role in the global network of telecommunications and transport affecting economic as well as socio-political welfare. The paper suggests that regional and international co-operation is necessary to tackle the problems of uneven growth and development of various information sectors. Information and its communication is a two-way process. Its effects should be complementary and of mutual benefit rather than purely competitive.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
See the annotated bibliography, M. S. Snow and M. Jussawalla, Telecommunication Economies and International Regulatory Policy: An Annotated Bibliography, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT., 1986. While it emphasises telecommunications, this is in a sense the flip-side of information. See also M. Jussawalla; D. M. Lamberton and N. D. Karunaratne, (eds), The Cost of Thinking, Ablex Publishing, Norwood; N.J., 1988; Kwok Yin-Wang and Au Kit-Ying, ‘The information industry, multinational corporations and urbanisation in the Asian Pacific countries; a research agenda’, Prometheus, 3, 2, December 1985, pp. 349–369.
See, for example, M.U. Porat and M. R. Rubin, The Information Economy, Vol. 1, US Department of Commerce, Office of Telecommunications, Washington D.C., 1977; N. D. Karunaratne, An input-output approach to the measurement of the information sector’, Economics of Planning, 20, 2, 1986, pp. 87-103 and ‘A rapid informatization strategy for Australia — An impact analysis’, Economic Systems Research, 1,4, 1989, pp. 465-479; R. Staglin, ‘Toward an input-output subsystem for the information sector’, in R. E. Miller et al., Frontiers of Input-Output Analysis, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, pp. 65–78.
For an overview of these policies and measures and a profile of the Singapore information sector see Kuo Eddie Cy, ‘Trends of informatisation in Singapore’, paper presented at a multi-disciplinary Symposium on information Technology and Singapore Society: Trends, Policies and Applications, jointly organised by National University of Singapore and National Computer Board, Singapore, February 1989; Toh Mun Heng and Linda Low, ‘The Economic Impact of the Information Sector in Singapore’, Economics of Planning, 23, 1, 1989a, pp. 51-70. See also Toh Mun Heng and Linda Low, ‘Singapore's service sector development in the ASEAN context’, ASEAN Bulletin, 6, 1, July 1989b, pp. 8-30 for a role of the information sector deemed to be “new service” within the overall service sector.
Kuo, op. cit.
Kuo Eddie Cy, Toh Mun Heng and Linda Low. . 1989. . The Singapore telecommunications sector and issues affecting its competitive position in the Pacific region. . Columbia Journal of World Business . , Vol. XXIV((1)) Spring;: 59––71. .
Japan and the US are selected, first, because they are highly informatised economies which Singapore can look up to and secondly, due to the availability of their input-output tables. Wherever literature permits, other countries in the Asia-Pacific regions will be drawn in for comparison.
The secondary information sector covers the planning, co-ordinating, managerial and organisational functions of public and private bureaucracies which are not marketed. Such in-house transactions are thus not reflected in national accounts and not attempted in this paper. For a discussion of the difficulties in measuring the secondary information sector, see Hans-Jiirgen Engelbrecht, (1985), ‘An Exposition of the Information Sector Approach with Special Reference to Australia’, Prometheus, 3, 2, December 1985, pp. 370–386.
D. M. Lamberton, ‘Theoretical aspects of the measurement of the information sector’, in Jussawalla et al, pp. 47-59.
The Singapore 1983 I-O tables are compiled by the Department of Statistics, January 1987; 1980 I-O tables for Japan (English summary) are prepared by the Management Administration Agency, Government, March 1984; and the 1981 US I-O Accounts are obtained from Mark A. Planting, ‘Input-Output Accounts of the US Economy, 1981, Survey of Current Business, January 1987, and have been modified by the National Income and Production Accounts revisions.
See Karunaratne, 1986; Cheah Chee Wah, An Input-output analysis of the Singapore primary information sector’, paper presented at the Input-Output Workshop of the Regional Science Association of New England, Australia, 1983.
The full methodology for computing scalars can be found in Toh Mun Heng and Linda Low, ‘A note on the methodology of computing the information scalar for bifurcation of the economy into information and non-information sectors’, Econometric Studies Unit Working paper, 5/89, Department of Economics, National University of Singapore, July 1989c.
For a classification of the 46-sectors, see Toh and Low, 1989a, op. cit.
See Toh and Low, 1989c, op. cit.
Engelbrecht, op. cit.
H. J. Engelbrecht, ‘The information sector of Taiwan’ in Jussawalla et at, pp. 195–215.
N. D. Karunaratne and M. Jussawalla, ‘Information economies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand’, in Jussawalla et al, pp. 165–176.
Government of Japan, Administrative Management Agency, 1980 Input-Output Tables. English summary, March, 1984, Singapore, Department of Statistics, Singapore Input-Output Tables, 1983, 1987.
Engelbrecht, in Jussawalla et al, op. cit.
ibid.
The results are only discussed qualitatively in this paper as the quantitative figures have not been presented due to constraint of length.
P. N. Rasmussen, Studies in Intersectoral Relations, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1957.
Diamond J.. 1974. . The analysis of structural constraints in developing economies: a core study. . Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics . , Vol. 36:: 95––108. .
See Kuo, Toh and Low, op. cit.