SMU Professor of Economics (Practice) Augustine Tan commented on Professor Lim Chong Yah's controversial 'shock therapy' ideas to reduce the widening income gap at a recent forum. Prof Tan said that the way to help the needy “is to give transfer payments, whatever we can afford, but don't tinker with wages”. He also took issue with Prof Lim's focus on Singapore’s rising Gini coefficient, and noted that while the Government may have allowed too many foreign workers into the country in too short a time, the last thing the economy needs is seemingly drastic measures such as mandatory minimum wage and a cap on top executives’ salaries. Instead, he proposed that certain sectors should be left entirely to low-wage foreign workers.