Entitlements, destitution, and emigration in the 1930s Singapore great depression

Abstract

This article uses an entitlements approach to analyse the divergent impacts of the 1930s great depression on the diverse population groups of Singapore and its Malay Peninsula hinterland. Contrary to a revisionist argument in the literature that the depression had comparatively little effect on South‐east Asia, Singapore was considerably affected. This arose more from the externality of migration of unemployed hinterland workers to the city than from a shift in the terms of trade against Singapore producers. Only the ‘safety valve' of mass emigration, promoted by colonial policy, enabled Singapore to escape the depression with a sharp, if relatively brief, drop in welfare and serious distress for its inhabitants.