Singapore is one of the world's most impressive economic success stories. Decades of strong growth produced economic convergence with rich nations in North America and Western Europe. Given how few nations have made that jump, this is a remarkable achievement.

What's even more noteworthy is that Singapore's economy then continued to expand at a healthy pace. Based on measures such as per-capita economic output, residents of Singapore are now significantly better off than their counterparts in almost every nation in the so-called rich man's club of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).