narrator: changi airport is a vital extension of the seaport.creasingly, goods arrive ship from southeast asia to be air-freighted to places like europe and australia. maximizing its gateway location maingapore a wealthy country. ling sndards here are among the highest in the world, ranking in the top 30 globally. in the 20 years before the asian crisis, except for a period in the mid- 1980s and perhaps early 1980s, singapore's growth rate was very stellar-- in the range of seven to ten percent. it took england 200 years to achieve its current standard of living; the same sarof livingyears that england has today. narrator: that accelerated development ishe rof economibalizat and a major and integral party t of singapore economy. this top-down approach differs from other models of economic developmen singapore's government exerts strong conol over more an just the economy. the western model of economic development is that when you libelize an economy, en politicaliberalization will also accompany economic liberalization. w, in asia, it's the exac