Referring to the effect of the ongoing economic restructuring on Singapore’s competitiveness, SMU Professor of Economics Augustine Tan was mentioned as one of the academics who is already drawing comparisons with the failed productivity experiment in the 1980s, where a similarly well-intentioned national drive for higher wages and incomes was also carried out against the backdrop of a strong currency. When external conditions deteriorated in the mid-80s, Singapore's vulnerable economy fell into a deep recession.