Government reviewing study alleging civil servants 'disproportionately' bought homes near unannounced MRT stations
The Public Service Division says it is reviewing the data and methodology of the working paper by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research and will refer the matter to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau if necessary.
The Public Service Division (PSD) of Singapore is reviewing data and methodology from a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in the United States. The paper claims that civil servants disproportionately purchased homes near unannounced MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) stations. PSD spokesperson stated that any integrity concerns are taken extremely seriously and the matter will be referred to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) if there is a basis to do so.
The NBER working paper, titled "Do Social Norms Substitute for Enforcement? Evidence from Public Officials Home Purchases in Singapore," examines whether public officials engaged in informed home purchases before planned rail stations were publicly announced. The authors linked civil servants to the Singapore Government Directory Interactive (SGDI) to identify their transaction histories and focused on purchases near planned MRT stations as a proxy for access to privileged location information.
The study found clear evidence of informed trading by civil servants, with purchase intensity higher for civil servants compared to matched controls, concentrated one to two years before public announcements. The authors suggest that this reflects access to non-public information rather than superior processing of public information.
Written by urgent.news from CNA - Singapore's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
