Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Economy, Lok Sang Ho

CAPS Working Paper Series

This paper reviews the economic policy since the handover. Evidence is presented and the case is argued that the serious recession and fiscal problems in 1998 were essentially a result of misguided housing policy. Hong Kong’s subsequent recovery and return to fiscal health, too, were essentially a result of a bold effort to reverse that misguided policy in late 2002. The paper commends the SAR government for its pragmatism and courage in the “incursion” in the stock market in the summer of 1998. CEPA was of course a great achievement for both Hong Kong and the Mainland, and Hong Kong’s …

On The Logic Of The Economic Integration Of Hong Kong Into The Greater China Economy, Hoi Cheung Cheung

CAPS Working Paper Series

Hong Kong has encountered an economic downturn since the outbreak of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. It was a result of the lack of long-term preparation for adjustment to changes in the industrial structure. Without a foundation to upgrade its industrial structure from labour-intensive manufacturing to mid and high-tech industry, Hong Kong could only transit its industrial structure directly from the secondary sector to the tertiary sector – financial services, trading and logistics, and related services. Nonetheless, due to the keen competition in terms of cost advantages from the neighbouring economies, mainly those regional economies in the Pearl River …

Labour Market Reforms And Polarization In Korea, K. H., Raymond Chan

CAPS Working Paper Series

From the early 1990s the South Korean government launched a series of structural reforms to liberalize and deregulate the economy and labour market, in line with its globalization strategy. Particularly after the financial crisis, flexible labour market reform was one of the major initiatives to keep the Korean economy competitive in the global market. This paper describes the rationale for flexible labour market reforms in Korea from the early 1990s, evaluates their impacts on labour market polarization, and assesses the policy responses adopted by Kim Dae-jung and the current Roh Moo-hyun governments. It is argued that the flexible labour market …

關於中國建立反壟斷法體系的幾個基本問題 = Some Basic Issues About Establishing An Anti-Monopoly System In China, Ping Lin

CAPS Working Paper Series

中國的競爭法及其研究一直強調公平和社會正義，利用市場機制達到社會資源最優配置這一效率目標未受到應有的重視。中國應充分發揮經濟學在競爭法立法和執法方面的作用。競爭法保護的是競爭機制，而不是競爭者。中國應當儘快建立真正符合競爭政策精神的思維方式，擯棄與“看不見的手”不相符的辭彙和邏輯。在中國經濟日益融入世界經濟體系的過程中，競爭政策不應作爲保護和扶持國內企業，限制國外競爭者的工具， 競爭政策不是産業政策的替代品。中國政府應充分尊重市場機制，建立和展示對市場機制的信任，讓競爭發揮調節經濟活動的作用。建立獨立的有單一職責的反壟斷執法機構不僅是消除行政壟斷的必要，也是保證競爭法的實施不受産業政策左右的重要條件。

In contrary to the spirit of modern competition policy, China has been emphasizing almost solely the fairness and social justice aspects of antitrust. The objective achieving efficient allocation of resources has yet to be incorporated explicitly into China’s competition laws. China should make full use of economics principles in drafting and implementing its competition policy. Competition laws protect competition, rather than competitors. China should abandon the vocabulary and logics that are incompatible with the “invisible hand” doctrine, and establish ways of thinking of modern competition policy. Competition policy is no substitute for industrial policy, and should not be …

The Economic Challenges For The New Chinese Leadership, Yue Ma, Ping Wang

CAPS Working Paper Series

"The Impact of China's Accession to the WTO" 中國入世後的初步分析

This paper will first review the early concerns about China's entry to the WTO. Then we will evaluate the preliminary impact of the WTO membership on the Chinese economy, which turned out to be better than expected. We also discuss the current international debate on the Chinese currency renminbi revaluation and suggest that a gradual improvement of the current Chinese rigid exchange rate system will be inevitable.

Finally we will explore the potential problems and challenges to both economies of mainland China and Hong Kong in the future. We argue that …

Do China And Hong Kong Constitute An Optimum Currency Area?, Yue Ma, Shu Ki Tsang

CAPS Working Paper Series

After the political unification of Hong Kong with China, Hong Kong is supposed to function as a separate economic entity under the framework of "one country, two systems". However, the increasingly close ties between the two economices have raised the possibility of full economic integration, and even of monetary union as the Chinese currency progresses towards full convertibility. This paper employs the theory of optimum currency area (OCA) and adopts recently developed techniques to test whether China and Hong Kong constitute an OCA. The empirical findings based on disaggregated historical data are overwhelmingly negative. Other considerations also point to a …