Opium consumption and living standards in Singapore, 1900 to 1939

Abstract

Studies on opium consumption in Southeast Asia have thus far not addressed the issue from an economic welfare perspective. This article assembles data from colonial sources to derive estimates of aggregate opium consumption in Singapore during the early decades of the twentieth century. It shows that an alternative measure of welfare that includes opium in the consumption basket led to a declining standard of living amongst unskilled labourers who depended on the drug for their work.