Debunking Neoliberalism

Most likely you have heard about economic freedom indices, which are commonly used to relate a country's level of development to its "economic freedom". But is it possible to make this type of association? What do these indexes measure? What conclusion can we draw from them?
With this article, using the index of economic freedom of the think tank Heritage Foundation ( Index of Economic Freedom 2016 - last with methodology available at the beginning of the elaboration of this text), we will better understand how the indices are calculated and verify if the specific aspects of economic liberalism that use them as an argument for the application of their policies are correctly interpreting their data and using them appropriately.
In this text, we will call these specific strands of liberalism neoliberals , even though they know that they have come to reject the term [1 ] , to differentiate them from classical liberals and other economic schools derived from classical liberalism that do not share the same ideas.
Voyager previously showed that the improvement in this type of index has no correlation with economic development or growth [2 ] , as well as showing that in the first positions there are countries that did not follow the (neo) liberal ideology [3a ] . At the end of this article, it will be clearer why these inconsistencies in this type of ranking.

1. The criteria considered in the index and their respective weights

The Index of Economic Freedom (Index of Economic Freedom) calculated by the Heritage Foundation is based on 10 criteria, which receive a score from 0 to 100. With the result of each criterion, an arithmetic average is made, that is, the notes for all items and the sum value is divided by 10 (number of items added up). The following is a list of the 10 criteria with a brief description of how the calculation is performed [4th ] :
1 - Property Rights
Property rights are measured by the level of legal protection that private property has. A score of 100 is defined as "Private property is guaranteed by the government, the judiciary ensures compliance with contracts quickly and efficiently, justice punishes those who confiscate private property illegally, there is no corruption or expropriation" .
2 - Absence of corruption (Freedom from Corruption)
This item uses the ranking of the international transparency of perception of corruption ( corruption perception index ), whose objective is to measure the perception of corruption by averaging the result from 13 different sources, considering only countries that appear in at least 3 of them. Each of these sources asks different questions of the interviewees and captures this perception of corruption in different groups, with a consideration that the sources have the same weight, being admitted by the international transparency itself the difficulty of effectively measuring corruption. [5 ] [6 ]
3 - Fiscal Freedom
Measured by making the arithmetic mean of 3 values. These values ​​are obtained by subtracting from 100 the percentage value (converted into a number from 0 to 100) squared the tax burden, the highest tax rate on individual income and the highest tax rate on corporate income, each multiplied by 0.03 before subtraction.
4 - Government Spending
Calculated by subtracting from 100 the percentage value of spending in relation to GDP squared multiplied by a factor 0.03. Thus, a country with public expenditure equal to zero has a result equal to 100, while a country with public expenditure equal to 58% of GDP (or greater) has a result equal to zero. Expenditure at the federal, state and municipal levels is considered (when data are present. For some countries only the federal government is considered).
5 - Business Freedom
The name would suggest something related to the freedom of entrepreneurs to act in the areas of their interest, but that is not what this is about. Business freedom in this item is measured considering 13 sub-items, with which a weighted average is made: 4 items related to the start of a business (number of procedures, time in days, cost as a percentage of per capita income, minimum capital as a percentage of per capita income), 3 to obtain licenses (number of procedures, time in days, cost as a percentage of per capita income), 3 to close a business (time in years, cost as a percentage of property value, recovery rate in cents / dollar) and 3 to obtaining electricity (number of procedures, time in days and cost as a percentage of per capita income). Each item is weighted so that everyone has an equal impact on the final grade.
6 - Labor Freedom
It is measured by making a weighted average of 7 items (weighting is done so that all items represent the same fraction of the final result): Ratio between minimum wage and average added value per worker, barriers to hiring new workers, rigidity of hours, difficulty in dismissing redundant workers, legal notice period, mandatory dismissal payment and labor force occupation rate. This weighted average is converted to a scale from 0 to 100.
7 - Monetary Freedom
In this case, it does not concern freedom of exchange, which would undoubtedly be an agenda defended by neoliberals, but inflation. Basically, the weighted average of the last 3 years is reduced from the value of 100 (more precisely, a square root of this weighted average is made), plus a penalty of 0 to 20 due to the existence of state price control.
8 - Trade Freedom
It is calculated from the value of the average import / export tariff normalized from the average tariffs of all countries concerned. In addition, a penalty of 0 to 20 is defined for non-tariff barriers.
9 - Investment Freedom
Starting from a value of 100, there are penalties of up to 25 points for differences in treatment between domestic and foreign investments, up to 20 points for lack of transparency and bureaucracy for foreign investments, 15 points for land purchase restrictions, 20 points for land restrictions. international investments in certain sectors, 25 points for expropriation of investments without fair compensation, 20 points for restrictions on trade in foreign currencies and 25 points for the control of remittances of profits abroad.
10 - Financial Freedom
The item "financial freedom" aims to measure the state's presence in the banking sector. A score of 100 is assigned when there are no state-owned banks, the government does not interfere with banks' allocation of credit, there is no restriction on the provision of banking services by foreigners, the government has no shares in existing private banks and there is no restriction on the establishment of new banks.
Further details can be found in the Heritage Foundation's own document. [4b ]

2. Criteria that are not related to the adoption of economic liberalism
Before giving a high score to economic liberalism on any item, it is prudent to question whether a country necessarily needs to adopt (neo) liberal policies to achieve this and who would oppose such items. As we live in a capitalist system and there are few parties that effectively defend the abolition of the State (like the ultraliberals - also called proprietaristas or “ anarcho-capitalists ” - anarchists or communists ) or the nationalization of the means of production ( Marxist-Leninists ), they will be considered as opposed to neoliberalism the options that representative democracy poses for voters with real chances of victory: social democrats, labor, keynesians, anti-liberal conservatives, among others who are opposed to (neo) liberal logic without the destruction of the prevailing economic system on the practically entire planet (capitalist with state).
1 - Property Rights
For the Government to guarantee private property, the evaluation and validity of contracts quickly and efficiently and a justice that punishes those who confiscate someone else's property, a large and capable judicial / police system, clear and efficient laws made by the legislature will be necessary. . Except in the case of people who defend the end of the State or the nationalization of the means of production, it can be said that this definition of property right is a consensus. Now, if something is considered to be a consensus by all political alternatives, then it can never be used to defend one of them at the expense of others. This becomes even more serious when the index is used by the extremist neoliberals (the “anarcho-capitalists”), given that in the system they defend, the State does not even exist to exercise the legal protection measured by this item.
2 - Freedom from Corruption
There is no political aspect that defends corruption as beneficial. There are differences in the best way to fight corruption, but the index does not evaluate what are the methods adopted to fight it, but the perception of corruption of a certain part of the population (it is worth mentioning that the population may still have a wrong perception of corruption, especially in cases where the press is closely controlled by the government, as in Singapore [3b ] ). As the item does not assess the existence of (neo) liberal methods of fighting corruption, it is not useful to indicate the adoption or not of its measures.
5 - Business Freedom
This item managed to gather under a name that refers to economic liberalism a collection of 13 sub-items that no political current is against and in many cases are resolved with anti-liberal measures. For example, you can reduce the time for appraising licenses, opening and closing businesses by having more than 30% of its population employed in the public sector, as in the case of Norway and Denmark [7 ] . It is possible to streamline the installation of electricity and reduce its cost by concentrating the entire sector in the hands of the State, as in the case of Norway and Singapore [3c ] [8 ] . The time to close a company and the cost of closing are closely related to legal disputes, which basically depend on a peaceful point (the first item, Property right).
The items on which per capita income is placed to divide the value, on the other hand, are merely a measure of the countries' wealth, as they favor the richest countries over the poorest. In short, the item does not assess which strategies are used to obtain a result that is peaceful, but considers those that have better results, regardless of whether the strategy adopted by the country is liberal or antiliberal, in addition to using factors that benefit countries rich in detriment of the poor directly, which makes it useless to defend one type of policy or another.
7 - Monetary Freedom
In fact, neoliberals give above-average importance to controlling inflation, even when compared to classic liberals, especially those whose studies derived from the work of Milton Friedman . However, it is noteworthy that economists of all the existing strands defend some form of fighting inflation, and there are countless ways to fight it. Brazilians are well aware of this, given that we went through the Cruzado , Cruzado Novo , Bresser , Summer , Collor I , Collor II and Real plansbefore we achieved a certain stability in our currency (since the real plan itself has two very distinct phases, where the first had an exchange rate anchor among its main foundations and the second adopted a floating exchange rate). In short, what can effectively differ in different economic schools is the method adopted to fight inflation and, to avoid a long text about each of the existing methods of fighting inflation, suffice it to say that a country with zero inflation and price fully controlled by the State would have, in this item, a score of 80 (100 due to zero inflation and a penalty of 20 due to price control), which would place it in the “free” half of the world in this regard, with a difference of 1.8 for the overall leader of the ranking ( Hong Kong) and only 10 for the country with the highest value in the item ( Dominica ), and it is somewhat obvious that if the objective were to measure the adoption of neoliberalism the score should be zero.

3. Criteria that are effectively related to economic liberalism
3 - Fiscal Freedom
The definition of fiscal freedom seems appropriate to neoliberal precepts. In fact, they systematically defend the reduction of the tax burden in general and mainly of taxes that are more intense on the richest, such as taxes on income (both corporate and individual) and property. The justification is that the rich would be responsible for generating wealth and their enrichment would result in a benefit for the general population. Although at first glance the indicator seems reasonable, in the way that countries with low taxes are constructed in general do not present much difference in the result regardless of the adopted taxation model. Other economic schools do not have a tax target (quite the contrary, everyone knows that taxes cannot be raised indefinitely),emphasizing the question of how they are distributed rather than the value of the tax burden itself. An emblematic case is that of Singapore, which has a low tax burden but follows a tax regime opposite to that advocated by neoliberals.[3d ] , something that is camouflaged by the way the indicator was built. This could be mitigated if they did not raise the values ​​squared, because doing so, changes in small values ​​end up having a negligible result, while changes in larger values ​​have a very big impact (For example: A country with a 0% rate in all aspects it would score 100. With a rate of 15% for all items, it would receive a score equal to 93.3, but if it increased by 15% all rates - reaching 30% - it would have a result equal to 73.0, increasing another 15 % - reaching 45% - the result would be 39.3).
4 - Government Spending
In fact, the fixation with the reduction of public spending by neoliberals is peculiar, finding no parallel in its opponents. The visible flaw in the indicator is that it is considered (in most cases) spending at the federal, municipal and state levels of the countries, but not at state-owned companies. In some cases, even the central government (federal sphere) is considered for lack of data. This distorts the result upwards, increasing the countries' scores on this item, especially in cases where the State is very active through its companies (such as Singapore [3e ] ) or when data is scarce.
6 - Labor Freedom
Neoliberals' repulsion at the existence of labor laws is public and notorious. However, it is worth noting the lack of labor rights seen as priority by their opponents (there is no mention, for example, of unemployment insurance, compulsory public pension or a social security system), the use of items that go against neoliberal precepts (a The view that the State must guarantee full employment and directly combat a low occupancy rate is typically Keynesian, while neo-liberals consider that a certain level of unemployment is healthy for the economy - with discouragement having a clear relationship with prolonged unemployment - in addition to be an indicator that privileges rich and stable countries that tend to have a lower unemployment rate. By dividing the minimum wage by an indicator related to productivity,rich countries are privileged and not by chance are more productive while transmitting an idea that low-skilled workers, easily replaceable and with little prestige with the rest of the population - those who in fact receive minimum wages - should be benefited by a general productivity gain, something that is also defended only by opponents of neoliberalism). Another point that could not be left out is the unions, so criticized by neoliberals. Many of the more developed countries are among the most unionized and have the workers most covered by collective bargaining, with a high level of unionization even considered by some to be a reasonable substitute for the minimum wage and other labor rights.a high level of unionization even considered by some to be a reasonable substitute for the minimum wage and other labor rights[9 ] [10 ] [11 ] .
8 - Trade Freedom
Although typical voters of neoliberalism and some of their media spokesmen are betraying the defense of free trade by supporting protectionist Trump , Brexit and encouraging the dismantling of free trade agreements such as the European Union , NAFTA and the Trans-Treaty. Pacific , its authors are effectively opponents of customs barriers, something that is not accompanied by its opponents in representative democracy. Although there is no political current against the existence of trade, in fact, neoliberals are leading the defense that reducing barriers to import / export is an intrinsically good measure.
9 - Investment Freedom
Indeed, neoliberals are the great advocates of the free flow of capital and investments.
10 - Financial Freedom
The absence of government in the banking sector is in fact a flag that distinguishes neoliberals.
4. Criteria that should not be missing from a ranking of economic liberalism (according to what neoliberals preach), but do not exist in the index

In addition to the existence of items that do not adequately represent the neoliberal prescription and evident distortions in the items related to the policies defended by militants who use economic freedom indices, the absence of central themes defended by their authors, voters and governments is striking.
There is no item in the ranking that deals with the participation of the State in the economy in relation to GDP, or any proportion between the participation of private and state-owned companies / mixed economy in the local economy, which totally distorts the results of countries in which the State takes place through its companies (the most striking cases are Singapore [3f ] and the oil-exploiting countries of the Middle East, whose economic activity as well as government revenue are extremely dependent on state-owned oil companies).
An important economic activity of state-owned companies is the main reason for the low taxes found in several countries, such as Singapore , Saudi Arabia , Qatar and Kuwait . Therefore, the presence of an item dealing with this issue is necessary to correct flaws in the item “Fiscal Freedom”.
There is also no item that addresses the issue of public services. The privatization of public services (health, education, security, among others) is one of the main banners of neoliberalism, being the defense of the greater efficiency of the private initiative systematically exalted by those aligned with its dogmas. With their extensive campaign against state efficiency in providing public services, the use of an index that says nothing about one of the main neoliberal flags to justify the adoption of their policies is totally incoherent. Several countries well located in the economic freedom index (such as Australia , New Zealand and Singapore ) stand out for their strong state presence in public services.
Another point that could not be missing is regarding exchange rate freedom. It is common among neoliberal economists to defend the end of Central Banks or their “independence” from the government and to combat exchange rate manipulation, which they consider harmful even in the case where currencies are devalued to increase competitiveness in global trade. The sub-item present in “investment freedom” does not represent this discussion, despite being related to the subject.
The 3 items mentioned above could not be missing from an index that is used to legitimize the application of neoliberal policies, as it is well known and well known that the main opponents of these policies in the economic sphere are those that follow a line derived from Keynesianism , where they are commonly found. defends a relevant role of the State in these items (public services, strategic sectors and exchange policy controlled by the State consistent with a country's development strategy).
5. Ranking considering only items related to economic liberalism
Disregarding the flaws presented in sections 3 and 4 of this article and knowing that this causes strong distortions in countries that are extremely dependent on state companies such as Singapore and the oil powers, as well as in countries where the State is strongly present in public services (case of New York). Zealand, Australia, Canada and again Singapore), we will do an exercise that is about repeating the same economic freedom index of the Heritage Foundation, considering only the 6 items presented in the third topic - Fiscal Freedom, Government Spending Spending), Freedom of Labor (Labor Freedom), Freedom of Trade (Trade Freedom), Freedom of Investment (Investment Freedom) and Financial Freedom (Financial Freedom) - to evaluate what the result of such ranking would be.
It is not surprising to note that the result is much closer to the reality of what the neoliberal ideology advocates than the original ranking: Several countries with a long social-democratic tradition (such as France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium) are now halfway “Least free” in the world, with France in one of the last positions (156th out of 178 countries).
There is also a strong evolution in “economic freedom” from ex-socialist countries that have undergone major liberal reforms since the 1990s, such as Georgia , Armenia , Azerbaijan and Albania , but remain poor.
Another evident fact is the sharp rise in poor tax havens, such as Panama and Paraguay , which are visibly close to the neoliberal prescription but were penalized for the simple fact of being in a condition of poverty.
6. Ranking considering only items not related to economic liberalism
As a complementary exercise, we will do another ranking, only with the items purged because they are also defended by opponents of neoliberalism presented in the second topic.
The result is quite interesting and even expected: European countries with a long social-democratic tradition are among the best positioned in the index that considers only those points that are peaceful as something necessary for the development of an economy in a capitalist system.

Final considerations
The rankings presented in the fifth and sixth topics alone show how the “economic freedom” indices would be impacted quite intensely if they were reliable to the principles defended by neoliberals, which implies the impossibility of their use to defend their policies.
The expectation is that an “economic freedom index” truly aligned with its prescription will result in a ranking in which the leaders would be tax havens. Even among tax havens, however, it is likely that the most developed will be classified as "less free", precisely because of the strong presence of the State in public services and infrastructure (case of Switzerland ). Another very likely result is that countries with a long social-democratic tradition such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Germany, among others, follow the trajectory of a sharp drop in the index identified in the fifth topic, keeping France company. in the last positions.
While the economic debate does not involve the use of indexes that really represent what one wants to defend, little can be done other than conjecture. It is not the objective of this article to elaborate a new index that reflects the neoliberal ideas, just to explain why the “economic freedom indexes” present incoherent results, classifying in the first positions countries that adopted a prescription diametrically opposed to those that use it as an argument, in addition to a increase in the index has no correlation with economic development.
Thus, a famous sentence by ex-president Itamar Franco sums up the use of “economic freedom indexes” to legitimize the application of neoliberal policies: “Numbers do not lie, but liars make numbers”.

Singapore is a city-state located in Southeast Asia, more precisely on an island south of Malaysia , known on the internet for its extremely high rate of economic freedom , both by the Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute (2nd place among all countries in the world) in both rankings on the date of publication of that article).
Based on these rankings, many see Singapore as the land of opportunity, of economic freedom, where the state does not hinder entrepreneurs and the population can enjoy unrestricted freedom.
It sounds great, but enthusiasts of “economic freedom” forgot to take into account some facts about Singapore, which will lead us to serious questions about the credibility of using these indices to justify the adoption of liberal policies (neoclassical or not).
It is worth mentioning that the commercial exchange rate obtained on 01/24/2017 will be used throughout the article.

1. Singapore has the most expensive car on the planet

Having a car in Singapore is not for everyone, and not only because of the high prices and fees, but also due to restrictions imposed by the local government.
Before purchasing a car, you must first have a “Certificate of Entitlement” (Certificate Of Entitlement) which costs around R $ 113,808 (S $ 50,991) for cars up to 1600 cylinder capacity (category A) and R $ 125,903 (S $ 56,410) for cars above 1600cc (category B). These certificates are limited and the Land Transport Authority (state agency) makes 2 monthly drawings, with a quota of approximately 2,000 certificates for category A and 1,350 for category B. To have an idea of ​​how limited licenses are, in every year 2015, 32,862 category A and 21,578 category B were drawn, just over 54,000 licenses for a population of more than 5.6 million people. [1 ] [2 ] [3 ]
After obtaining your certificate you can finally buy a car, all you have to do now is pay the registration and circulation fees and taxes [4 ]:
• Registration fee: S $ 140 (Singapore Dollars), approximately R $ 312.
• Additional Registration Fee: For the first S $ 20,000.00 the fee is 100% the market value of the car, for the next S $ 30,000.00 it is 140% and above the S $ 50,000.00 plus 180%. To purchase a car with a market value of S $ 75,000.00 you would pay 100% x S $ 20,000 + 140% x S $ 30,000 + 180% x S $ 25,000 = S $ 20,000 + S $ 42,000 + S $ 45,000 = S $ 107,000 or approximately R $ 238,817 additional registration fee.
• Consumption tax: 20% of the car's market value
• Goods and Services Tax (GST): 7% of the market value
• Circulation tax (valid for 6 months): [S $ 475 + S $ 0.75 (CC - 1,600)] x 0.782 for cars between 1600 and 3000 cylinders
2. The State controls the real estate market and land

As a runner-up in economic freedom, you must imagine that Singapore has a free and competitive real estate market, dominated by private initiative and with little state interference, but it can be said that it is quite the opposite.
Public housing has always been an important state policy since its independence in the 1960s when it had some of the most precarious slums in the world.
Founded in 1960, the Housing and Development Board (Agency for Housing and Development) is now responsible for more than 80% of the housing in the country.
Before its creation in the 1960s, the predecessor agency - the Singapore Improvement Trust - had built 20,907 units of public housing units in the 12-year period between 1947 and 1959, which was insufficient to house the population of about 1 , 6 million inhabitants of the time.
With just 3 years after the formation of HDB, 31,317 apartments were built and the real estate crisis had already been successfully alleviated. The apartments were basic, with running water and basic sanitation, but provided decent housing and shelter for the general population.
In 1964, the government introduced the Home Ownership for the People Scheme to give citizens a tangible asset in the country and a stake in nation building. This push for home ownership also improved the country's overall economic, social and political stability.
In 1968, to help more inhabitants “buy” (the term buy in this case needs further explanation) their house, the government allowed the use of savings from the Central Social Security Fund (CPF) for entry and monthly installments of the mortgage loan. This, together with other grant programs introduced over the years, has made home ownership more accessible and attractive. [7 ]
Public and modern housing developments have replaced favelas and peripheral rurality with a comprehensive offer of infrastructure and services. Initially, public housing was introduced to combat severe housing shortages as a political response to the “universal right to housing”, and in support of export-led industrialization. It has thus served as a key mechanism for “national construction”, and as an international capital attraction that has generated high rates of economic growth.
The most common form of “sale” of land and housing is leasing or concession, where in fact you have “ownership” for 99 years, that is, in the last instance the ownership still belongs to the State. [8 ]
It is visible that Singapore has had, since its independence, one of the largest public housing programs in the world, making Minha Casa Minha Vida and the Brazilian BNH seem somewhat meaningless.
3. The government of Singapore has two of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world and is present in the main companies in the country
The State of Singapore has two sovereign funds on the planet, more precisely the 8th and 12th largest in the world: Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (also known as GIC Private Limited, founded in 1981) and Temasek Holdings (founded in 1974).
Together, these funds are valued, at the date of writing of this article, at 543 billion US dollars, the equivalent of 1.722 trillion reais. For comparison: on that same date, the total debt of the Singapore government was close to USD 300 billion (approximately 55% of the market value of sovereign wealth funds), GDP was close to USD 277 billion (approximately 50% of the value of sovereign wealth funds) and all shares traded on the Singapore Exchange valued at close to US $ 640 billion (approximately 118% of the value of sovereign wealth funds). [9 ] [10 ] [11 ] [12 ] [13 ]
Temasek Holdings was created through the Singapore Companies Act, to manage investments and assets that were already owned by the government of Singapore, made in the first decade of nation building from 1965. Among these assets, Development Bank of Singapore Ltd (now DBS Group), Jurong Holdings , Jurong Shipbuilders , Jurong Shipyard (part of Sembcorb Industries ltd all three) and Singapore Airlines , companies that are still among the largest in Singapore today. [13 ] [14 ]
In the case of GIC Private Limited , the fund was created to manage the country's international reserves. Since its independence from Malaysia, the country has not wanted to back its currency just in confidence and the GIC was an important step for the government to build a large asset on assets located abroad, which would allow great control over the local currency that remains in the days of today. [15 ]
Among the 10 largest companies in Singapore by market value today (which can be seen in the Forbes list ) 6 are in the portfolio of Temasek (SingTel, DBS Group, CapitaLand, Singapore Airlines, ST Engineering and Keppel Corp), which also it is the parent company of the companies (alone or together with other shareholders). GIC, on the other hand, is present in 2 (Oversea-Chinese Banking and United Overseas Banking), however, as a minority shareholder (without directly participating in the control). [16 ] [17 ] [18 ] [19 ]

4. The State controls most essential services, leaving little room for private initiative
The massive presence of the State in the basic needs of the city in question is not only limited to the housing and land sector, but is expanded by all the essential services present on the island.
The telecommunications sector, for example, was a monopoly of SingTel until the year 2000, the end of which was announced in 1997. Despite the breakdown of the state monopoly, restrictions on foreign control (such as a 51% minimum limit on local ownership) remained new players in the sector) and, despite the apparent diversification, the two competitors of Singtel (which remains the largest telecommunications company in the country) with a relevant presence have the State as one of the main shareholders. [20 ] [21 ]
The second largest telecommunications company is Mobile One , whose second largest shareholder is Keppel Telecom , which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Corp , which, in turn, is controlled by Temasek . In addition, the third largest shareholder ( SPH Multimedia Private Ltd ) has SingTel itself among its controllers. Both companies cited are among the company's controlling shareholders. [22 ] [23 ] [24 ] [25 ]
In the case of the third Singaporean telecom company, Starhub , control is exercised by Asia Mobile Holdings . This is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, which is also a company controlled by Temasek. [26 ] [24 ] [27 ]
In this way, the government maintains, via Temasek, its influence in practically the entire telecommunications sector in the country.
Singapore's energy sector is controlled by a 100% state-owned company called Singapore Power (its only shareholder is Temasek). It is the only natural gas supplier, operator and carrier in the country (via PowerGas ), the only electricity transmitter (via SP PowerAssets ), the only energy distributor and system operator (via SP PowerGrid ), leaving space for private initiative. only in the area of ​​electricity generation. [28 ] [29 ]
However, even in the area of ​​electric power generation, the presence of the State is relevant (despite having decreased significantly in recent years). Through SembCorb and Keppel Corp , the State of Singapore controlled 22.8% of power generation at the end of 2015 (latest data available at the time of writing).
This small participation of the State in the generation is a recent event. The Thy Power Generation and Senoko Energy (which have combined market share 41.1%) were sold in 2008 by Temasek while PowerSeraya (17.9% market share) the same was sold in 2009 [30 ] [31 ] [32 ] [33 ]
In the land transport sector, prohibitive prices and difficulties in obtaining a license to use cars make public transport the main means of transportation in the country. In this sector, the LTA ( Land Transport Authority , government agency) is the owner of all assets (buses, highways, train lines and trains), leaving to the private sector only the possibility of operating them. [34] [35] [36]
Despite the possibility of land transport being operated by the private sector, the State maintains broad control of the sector. There are only 2 train operators, SMRT TRAINS and SBS Transit . The first is a company controlled by Temasek, while the second is controlled by ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited , which in turn has among its controllers the Singapore Labor Foundation (union body linked to the government). Among the bus operators, there are 4, with the 2 train operating companies (SMRT and SBS) being the largest in the sector and the other 2 ( Tower Transit Singapore and Go-Ahead Singapore ) not connected to the State. [37] [38] [39] [40]

5. Singapore's public services are mostly state, universal and paid according to the income of each citizen
Singapore's globally acclaimed educational system, which often ranks first in exams such as PISA , is also largely state-controlled (serving more than 70% of students at primary and secondary levels), with 100% of schools (even receive money from the state and are required to follow the same curriculum. [41] [42]
The possibility of placing your children in kindergarten is available to the entire population of Singapore, with the cost varying according to the families' ability to pay. The monthly fee varies between S $ 1.50 (approximately R $ 3.35) for the poorest population and S $ 150 (approximately R $ 334) for the most affluent population. [43] [44]
Primary and secondary education in Singapore is virtually free. Monthly fees in the range of S $ 6.50 (approximately R $ 14.47) apply for primary education and S $ 15 (approximately R $ 33.40) for secondary education, which are exempt for underprivileged students (eligible grant programs). [45] [46] [47]
At the higher education level, the situation is not very different: This small city-state has 6 public universities ( National University of Singapore , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore Management University , Singapore University of Technology and Design , Singapore Institute of Technology and SIM University ), which largely dominate local higher education. Students pay according to their income, and may be fully exempt in the case of needy students. [48]
Singapore's healthcare system is public and universal, largely dominated by state hospitals, especially after the Asian crisis of 1997, and it is also built in such a way that people pay according to their financial capabilities, reaching free of charge for needy populations. . [49] [50]

6. Singapore has a mandatory pension fund and several labor rights
Unlike what is advocated by (neo) liberals, labor rights in Singapore exist:
- The workload is limited to 44 hours per week, with one hour of lunch.
- There must be one minimum paid rest day per week.
- There are 11 paid national holidays which, if there is work, must be compensated by the employer.
- Workers are entitled to up to 14 pay days without work in case of illness and up to 60 days in case of hospitalization depending on the length of employment.
- They are also entitled to paid vacations, which vary between 7 and 14 working days depending on their time at home.
- Your employer is obliged to pay public pension, called CPF.
- They have the right to take 6 days out of the year to take care of their children, although they are not paid. If the child is less than 2 years old, he / she has another 6 additional paid days.
- Women are entitled to up to 16 weeks of maternity leave and 2 weeks of paternity leave.
Among other labor rights. [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56]

7. Singapore's taxes are low, but progressive
Singapore is a country known for charging relatively low taxes and this is not a myth: Taxes in relation to GDP are actually below the OECD average . In 2016, the government calculated the tax burden at 16.7% of GDP, with the 2015 OECD average being 34.3% of GDP and Brazil was close to that average. [57] [58] [59]
Obviously, this has an impact on the island's social welfare policies and, although the State offers a lot to the population compared to underdeveloped countries (as can be seen in the previous items), these benefits are less than those offered by the government of Norway , for example. [60]
Despite this, it can be said that the city-state is far from following the liberal ideas in this regard. According to the government itself, 3 objectives are taken into account to define expenditures: Promote economic growth with low inflation, maintain a balanced budget and focus government investments on providing essential public services (education, health, infrastructure, housing and protection programs) to the environment), that is, everything listed in items 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this article, plus environmental protection programs. [61]
Other signs that show departure from the liberal method of collecting taxes are at the origin of the revenue. The item that most contributes to the collection are the taxes on corporate profits, followed by taxes on consumption, personal income, vehicles (which are a type of property) and properties. It can be said that more than half of the tax revenue comes from income and property, which are the most difficult to pass on to consumers and whose cuts are most defended by new liberals (classic liberals have a more critical view of the property). [62]
It is well known and well known that consumption taxes weigh more on the poor, due to the ease of passing on the price of the products sold and also because they spend practically all their wages, which makes Brazilian taxation regressive (in Brazil, most taxes is on consumption), contrary to Singaporean taxation. [63] [64]
It is also surprising to Brazilians that, unlike our country, Singapore does not exempt profit from capital gains from foreign investments on the stock exchange or the distribution of dividends by publicly traded companies. [65] [66]

8. Singaporeans have their individual freedom extremely restricted by the government
The island has several laws that restrict individual freedom, to the point that the country is systematically the target of lists of "unbelievable laws", precisely because the government tries to control minute details of the lives of its inhabitants through specific laws.
Among these laws (all with punishment provided for in the local penal code), we can mention the prohibitions on selling and chewing gum, disturbing someone with musical instruments in a public place, flying a kite or playing any game that gets in the way of traffic, singing songs with obscene lyrics in public, spitting, distributing obscene material (including photos, DVDs and pornographic magazines), connecting to someone else's wi-fi, forgetting to flush the toilet, walking naked inside the house (in public it is also illegal, but that's already common in other countries), feeding pigeons, using drugs before entering the country (if they do anti-drug tests right at your entrance you can be arrested even if you have done nothing in Singaporean lands), have sex with someone of the same sex, cross the street outside the lane, drinking alcohol in public places between 10:30 pm and 7:00 am… [67] [68] [69]

9. There are well-founded accusations that Singapore has a one-party regime and not a democracy
Although there are several registered parties in Singapore, its policy is fully controlled by the People's Action Party (PAP), which has owned the prime minister since the city ceased to be a British protectorate in 1959. This includes the period that the country was in united with Malaysia and the entire post-independence period until the date of writing of the article (1965-2017).
Analysts and supporters of the opposition often accuse the country of operating under a disguised one-party regime, an accusation similar to that which occurs with the North Korean government (which also has several parties, but there is no alternation of power), which seems to be corroborated. by reality (it is at least strange for a single party to remain in power for almost 60 uninterrupted years).
Lee Kwan Yew was the country's ruler and commanded him with an iron fist from 1959 until 1990, being replaced by his fellow Goh Chok Tong until 2004 and since then by the current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (who is even one of his sons) former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew).
PAP was a Leninist party in its origin, but it is extremely difficult to be precisely defined ideologically. Although the party has historically declared itself a democratic socialist, this article has no intention of placing it on the ideological spectrum. This does not change the fact that a leading PAP minister declared in honor of Lee Kwan Yew at the time of his death that "This country must never forget its socialist heart, which will always do more for those who have less" . [70 ] [71 ] [72 ] [73 ] [74 ] [75 ] [76 ] [77 ]
10. There are serious doubts about the existence of press freedom in the country

Accusations of violations of press freedom in this city-state are diverse. In the ranking of the world press freedom index made in 2016 by the independent organization Reporters without Borders , Singapore appears in position 154 (out of 180 countries evaluated), behind nations systematically accused in the west for violations of press freedom such as Russia (148th position) and Venezuela (139th position). [78 ]
In describing the press situation in the country, Reporters Without Borders cites the possibility of the Media Development Authority (MDA) censoring journalistic content, including online content, supported by the Media Development Authority Act, Films Act and Broadcasting Act. In 2015, the The government went so far as to order the closure of the news site The Real Singapore (TRS) for “excessively critical” content and to accuse 2 of its participants for the crime of sedition (insubordination against the state), which is why they were sentenced to prison. [79 ] [80 ]

Final considerations
By then, it should be clear that:
- Individual freedom is restricted by extremely strict legislation, very different from Western countries.
- The State of Singapore is very large and interferes in business not only through regulation, but being the controller of a large number of companies (including 6 of the 10 largest in the country) in strategic areas.
- The Singapore government is not exactly a model of austerity, having a debt greater than GDP while offering extensive services to the population.
- Public services, as well as essential services, are controlled by the State and are much better structured than in underdeveloped countries (such as Brazil).
- The real estate and land market is one of the most concentrated in the hands of the State across the planet.
- The tax regime is progressive (there is no room for the idea that the rich should be taxed less than the poor, because they are wealth generators).
- Singapore was not built on a liberal basis and remains very far from being a model of (neo) liberalism.
- There is evidence that there is a disguised one-party system in Singapore, with the only de facto party (PAP) Leninist origin, associated with accusations of persecution of the press.
Two questions remain open, as it is not part of the scope of the article to answer them:
- Given that Singapore shows unequivocally that the economic freedom indices visibly do not measure the minimum state nor the adoption of (neo) liberal measures, what do they measure?
- Why do right-wing activists use these indexes as a justification for adopting their policies, even though the first place adopts them?
Finally, it is necessary to remember that Singapore is not even a country, but rather a city-state, located in a strategic region of the globe, with a population of around 5 million inhabitants. Singapore, like Hong Kong and Taiwan , has been an important port area in Southeast Asia since the 19th century, due to its territorial characteristics that make it a commercial center and through the developmental policies of its State, which transformed it into a platform for export.
For these reasons, the reality of Singapore cannot be reproduced in other countries, especially those with a large population, such as Brazil, which needs a diversified economy and cannot support a population of almost 200 million of inhabitants only with port-financial activity.
Singapore is not liberal, nor has it used economic liberalism in any of its stages of development. On the contrary, the State has always fulfilled the role of organizer of the economy and this continues to this day. Even if it had developed with economic liberalism, however, its example would be of no use to other countries due to its very particular reality, impossible to be replicated in countries with a large population or with a larger territory, not insular and outside a privileged location. that is, Singapore would not even serve as an example if it had actually followed the liberals' agenda.