How did Singapore grow to become a wealthy nation?

Answer:"I don't think any other economy," says Linda Lim, an economist at the University of Michigan, "even the other Asian tigers, have that a good a statistical record of rapid growth, full employment, with very good social indicators - life expectancy, education, housing, etc. - in the first 20 years," she says.

Lee Kuan Yew, the man who founded modern-day Singapore and died last week at age 91, led that economic transformation. One of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, Lee was an autocrat whose tiny island-state became one of the richest places in the world, and a role model for other governments in Asia and beyond.

Singapore has little land and no natural resources. But after its independence in 1965, the former British colony was transformed into a major manufacturing and financial center. The late conservative economist Milton Friedman described Singapore as an example of how to do development right.

"If you compare the conditions of people in a place like Singapore with the conditions of people in a place like red China or for that matter Indonesia, you will see that the economic freedom is a very important component of total freedom," he said on Free to Choose, a TV series first broadcast on PBS in 1980.

Conservatives see Singapore as a free-market success story. Low taxes, few capital restrictions and liberal immigration policies have made it one of the most cosmopolitan places on Earth.

"They have very, very free trade, very low tariffs [and] very few non-tariff barriers," says Josh Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations. "They'll boast about how you can start your own company in Singapore in three hours."

But like Deng Xiaoping's China, which emulated many of Singapore policies, Lee's government played a big role in the economy.