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Lingnan University

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

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Articles 1 - 30 of 76

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Happiness And Government: The Role Of Public Spending And Public Governance, Lok Sang Ho, Yew Kwang Ng May 2016

Happiness And Government: The Role Of Public Spending And Public Governance, Lok Sang Ho, Yew Kwang Ng

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

We use a quadratic form in the key spending variables to estimate optimal government spending, using World Value Survey data covering 78 countries. We found that the average of total public spending for countries of good public governance, at 36.45% of GDP, is almost identical to the average of estimates of optimal public spending at 36.49%. However, significant over-spending or under-spending is found for individual countries. Optimal spending on both healthcare and that for education increase with population aging. Spending on education is found to reduce optimal healthcare spending. Per capita GDP increases optimal healthcare spending but reduces optimal education …

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Upward Earnings Mobility On The Decline In Hong Kong? A Study Based On Census Data, Lok Sang Ho, Kai Wai Huang, Xiangdong Wei Jun 2013

Upward Earnings Mobility On The Decline In Hong Kong? A Study Based On Census Data, Lok Sang Ho, Kai Wai Huang, Xiangdong Wei

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper offers a new intuitive approach using census data to cast light on earnings mobility. We find that in Hong Kong upward mobility opportunities indeed fell for those born in the mid 70s and later, but that there has been a remarkable improvement for degree holders in recent years. Contrary to common belief, even though starting salaries had fallen, degree holders more or less maintained their relative advantage by age 31-35. Moreover, among degree holders, beginning in 2011 upward mobility showed an improvement for all cohorts at the higher income end though less so at the lower end. The …

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Tax Reform : Toward A Simpler, More Pro-Growth Tax Regime, Lok Sang Ho Jun 2013

Tax Reform : Toward A Simpler, More Pro-Growth Tax Regime, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper proposes that tax reform should take the direction of focusing on economic rent as the tax base. Since personal incomes that are very high typically carries a large component of economic rent, even very high marginal tax rates may not have much adverse effect on effort provided that the tax bands are wide enough so that, say, 90% of the working population will enjoy very low marginal tax rates. From this perspective, the author proposes to abolish the profits tax altogether, but to treat dividends and capital gains (net of inflationary gains) the same as labor income.

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Hong Kong's Dual Identities And Sporting Mega-Event Policy, Brian Bridges May 2013

Hong Kong's Dual Identities And Sporting Mega-Event Policy, Brian Bridges

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

Since Hong Kong's reversion to China in 1997, the Special Administrative Region's government and its people have grappled with the problem of trying to pursue dual objectives at the same time. Firstly, to adjust to being a 'new' part of China and what that means in terms of national consciousness and local identities, particularly given the Beijing leaders' expectations that Hongkongers should come to 'love China'. Secondly, drawing at least in part on the past British colonial legacy, to maintain Hong Kong's international role as a cosmopolitan and commercial city as typified through the aspiration to be 'Asia's world city'. …

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Happiness Of Children As They Grow Into Their Teens : The Hong Kong Case, Lok Sang Ho Feb 2013

Happiness Of Children As They Grow Into Their Teens : The Hong Kong Case, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper reports the results of a dual survey of children from Primary 4 through Secondary 3 and their parents from Hong Kong conducted from November 2011 to January 2012. It confirms the often-cited result that happiness declines as the child moves into the teens, and finds that scores indicating Love, Insight, Fortitude, and Engagement, which reflect aspects of mental capital essential to happiness, also tend to decline during adolescence. Pressures from extracurricular activities surprisingly appear to have a greater adverse effect on happiness than pressures from school work. Siblings add to disharmony at home, and parents’ education does not …

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A Proposed International Unit Of Account : Implications For Financial Markets, Commodity Markets, And Research, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2009

A Proposed International Unit Of Account : Implications For Financial Markets, Commodity Markets, And Research, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

There are substantial benefits from having an indexed unit of account for denominating bonds, contracting, and for quoting commodity prices. A new real effective exchange rate (REER) index is derived using GDP weights and an implicit world price index obtained incidental to the derivation of the indexed unit of account. In a prototype exports function estimation, this new index beats most of the other published real effective exchange rate indices. The superior performance is probably due to the fact that with globalization and production fragmentation trade weights have become increasingly misleading because of the prevalence of re-exports and even re-re-exports.

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Strategic Regional And National Economic Development With Fiscal Equalization, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2008

Strategic Regional And National Economic Development With Fiscal Equalization, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper shows that under increasing returns, devoting resources to develop some regions strategically ahead of other regions make sense, but this does not imply that the other regions have to wait until the benefits of economic growth to trickle down. Fiscal equalization can and should be more aggressive, with the central government incurring a deficit to help the poorer regions, and the national debt thus caused to be repaid by higher taxes on the fast growing regions. Optimal fiscal equalization should also involve central government’s investment in certain kinds of public infrastructure in the local economies of the backward …

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The Housing Ladder And Hong Kong Housing Market's Boom And Bust Cycle, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong Jan 2008

The Housing Ladder And Hong Kong Housing Market's Boom And Bust Cycle, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper presents evidence, based on the recent Hong Kong experience, for the existence of a “housing ladder effect.” An increase of housing equity at the bottom of the ladder tends to translate into a trading up activity that will both increase housing market turnover and buoy up the entire housing market. Based on a natural experiment through the introduction of a public housing privatization scheme, this papers presents evidence supporting this story using a logit model and a price-volume causality test.

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Corruption In Bank Lending To Firms : Do Competition And Information Sharing Matter?, James R. Barth, Chen Lin, Ping Lin, Frank M. Song Sep 2007

Corruption In Bank Lending To Firms : Do Competition And Information Sharing Matter?, James R. Barth, Chen Lin, Ping Lin, Frank M. Song

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

Building on the important study by Beck, Demirguc-Kunt and Levine (2006), we examine the effects of borrower and lender competition and information sharing νia credit registries/bureaus on corruption in bank lending. Using the unique World Bank dataset of the World Business Environment Survey (WBES) covering 58 countries and information on credit registries/bureaus and bank regulation assembled by other scholars, we find (1) strong evidence that banking competition reduces lending corruption and (2) the first and robust evidence that information sharing among banks (especially via private bureaus) contributes to reducing corruption in bank lending. We also find that government- and foreign-owned …

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Health Care Financing Reform : A Socio-Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2007

Health Care Financing Reform : A Socio-Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper reviews some of the recent literature and experiences in healthcare reform in the light of the peculiarities of human nature. The review suggests that successful healthcare financing reform boils down to working out a cost/risk-sharing formula between government and citizens that can effectively preserve the incentives for efficient utilization of healthcare resources and for preventive care, while limiting the financial risk of citizens. The paper will also address issues arising from aging and redistributive concerns, as well as political and administrative feasibility.

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Happiness Index Survey 2006 : Annual Report, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong Dec 2006

Happiness Index Survey 2006 : Annual Report, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

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A Survey Report On Happiness Index And Determinants Of Happiness In Hong Kong, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong Dec 2006

A Survey Report On Happiness Index And Determinants Of Happiness In Hong Kong, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

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Facing Reality : Pernicious Obstacles To Collective Action On Climate Change, Paul G. Harris Jul 2006

Facing Reality : Pernicious Obstacles To Collective Action On Climate Change, Paul G. Harris

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The international climate regime, primarily designed to limit the emissions of pollutants causing global warming, has failed. Why has international cooperation to combat global warming been so difficult, and what factors must change to improve the situation—assuming it is even possible? Using Mancur Olson’s classical theory of collective action, this essay endeavors to explain the failure of the climate regime. Other international environmental agreements and the associated regimes, such as the Mediterranean Action Plan and the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion, demonstrate that collective action to address international environmental problems is possible. Both agreements contain the ingredients that classical theory—that …

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Bootstrapping Statistical Inferences Of Decomposition Methods For Gender Earnings Differentials, Yue Ma, Ying Chu Ng Jan 2006

Bootstrapping Statistical Inferences Of Decomposition Methods For Gender Earnings Differentials, Yue Ma, Ying Chu Ng

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

Applying the standard bootstrapping technique with corrections for heteroskedasticity for a sample of the 1997 Urban Household Survey in China, the present paper attempts to test (1) whether the commonly used decomposition methods for gender earnings differentials give significantly different results, and (2) whether the explained component is significantly different from the unexplained component (which is commonly referred to as discrimination) within each decomposition method. Based on a national data set, the empirical results indicated some significant differences in both tests. The implication of the results is that the proposed bootstrapping technique can be regarded as a guideline on applying …

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Sticky Wage, Efficiency Wage, And Keynesian Unemployment, Chengze, Simon Fan Jan 2005

Sticky Wage, Efficiency Wage, And Keynesian Unemployment, Chengze, Simon Fan

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper provides a model of involuntary unemployment by combining the insights of the sticky wage theory and the efficiency wage theory. It implies that employed workers tend to supply more effort in response to economic downturns. So, a negative shock to an economy has intriguing impacts on the unemployment. The model also shows that a negative demand shock may have a relatively small effect on output since changes in work effort serve to partially mitigate the effects of the shock. Moreover, it yields some implications that complement the existing “work-sharing” literature.

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Happiness And Public Policy, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2005

Happiness And Public Policy, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

In recent years many scholars are studying “happiness” seriously. Economics, long known as the dismal science, has a well established “utility theory” but utility should not be treated synonymously as happiness. This paper questions some premises of the Benthamite theory that presumes utility is the same as happiness and proposes a theory that there are three kinds of happiness: a forward looking or “prospective happiness,” a “happiness in process,” and a backward looking or “retrospective happiness.” It suggests that perceptions and value formation, which are normally outside the purview of economics, are important determinants of happiness. It further argues that …

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Rmb Revaluation And Speculative Capital Inflows : Policy Options, Yue Ma, Huayu Sun Jan 2005

Rmb Revaluation And Speculative Capital Inflows : Policy Options, Yue Ma, Huayu Sun

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

We build a monetary model to show how expected revaluations lead to the instability of a pegged exchange rate regime. This model assumes current account convertibility and some degree of capital control, and fundamentally sound domestic policies and economy, as is the case in China. The model demonstrates that market-oriented interest rates can act as an automatic stabilizer to ease revaluation pressures, but cannot resolve them completely because the nominal interest rate has a zero nominal bound. Therefore, the official parity will eventually collapse and the revaluation expectations can be self-fulfilling, in the absence of external intervention. The empirical results …

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True Democracy Without Powerful Parties, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2005

True Democracy Without Powerful Parties, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper argues that a government for the people and by the people requires an effective constitution more than electoral politics. While the author agrees to the need for democratic processes, it is pointed out that party politics and uninformed voting diminish the democratic nature of an election. Powerful parties suppress the free expression of opinions and judgments and harm the cause of democracy. True democracy requires that candidates be accountable to the constituents and not to the party, and that voters “do their homework” about the candidates before they vote.

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Macroeconomic Instability In Hong Kong : Internal And External Factors, Yue Ma, Y.Y. Kueh, Raymond C.W. Ng Mar 2004

Macroeconomic Instability In Hong Kong : Internal And External Factors, Yue Ma, Y.Y. Kueh, Raymond C.W. Ng

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The paper examines the sources of macroeconomic instability in Hong Kong under the linked exchange rate regime. A prototype IS-LM model is estimated, with adaptation to the restrictions posed by the US dollar peg that has been in place in Hong Kong since 1983. Among all external and internal factors of instability examined, local Hong Kong interest rate is found to have a dominant effect on real GDP, price and money supply. Over the long run, however, the US interest rate is the driving force behind the Hong Kong interest rate. Foreign inflation also affects Hong Kong's domestic demand and …

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An Alternative Roadmap To Middle East Peace, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2004

An Alternative Roadmap To Middle East Peace, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

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Globalization, Unemployment, And Excess Capacity : A Model And A Conjecture, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2004

Globalization, Unemployment, And Excess Capacity : A Model And A Conjecture, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

Using a theoretical model with an industrial world trading with a developing world and assuming no impediment to capital flows, it is shown that an abundant supply of unskilled labor will render real wages for the unskilled close to the subsistence level and will result in excess capacity. The rate of return for traditional manufacturing investment at the margin will decline so funds will seek to invest in financial assets and real property, boosting their prices. Under reasonable assumptions about the income elasticity and the price elasticity of demand for manufacturing products in rich and poor countries, it is shown …

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Privatization Of Public Housing : Did It Cause The 1998 Recession In Hong Kong?, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong Jan 2004

Privatization Of Public Housing : Did It Cause The 1998 Recession In Hong Kong?, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper finds evidence that a public housing privatization program produced adverse effects on housing transactions and the economy in Hong Kong. A scheme announced in December 1997, offering tenants an opportunity to buy their units at deeply discounted prices, reduced public housing tenants’ bids for private homes and adversely affected home transactions. This effect is more pronounced than the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis. An effect on housing prices is also indirectly demonstrated though a demonstration that a structural break in the housing price relationship occurred at the time the privatization program is introduced. Declines in housing prices …

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Managers' Occupational Stress In China : The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Changqin Lu, Oi Ling Siu, Cary L. Cooper Sep 2003

Managers' Occupational Stress In China : The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Changqin Lu, Oi Ling Siu, Cary L. Cooper

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The role of self-efficacy, an individual difference variable, in occupational stress research is seldom discussed, and is even rarely examined in Chinese societies. This study investigates the relationships between stressors, managerial self-efficacy (MSE) and work-related strains (job satisfaction, physical strain, and psychological strain). A total of 450 enterprise managers in eight cities of the People's Republic of China completed a battery of structured questionnaires. The results of the study generally support that total stressors was negatively related to job satisfaction, physical strain, and psychological strain. Furthermore, MSE was statistically significantly related to strains in that respondents with high levels of …

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The Effect Of Trade On Wage Inequality : The Hong Kong Case, Lok Sang Ho, Xiangdong Wei, Wai Chung, Gary Wong Jan 2003

The Effect Of Trade On Wage Inequality : The Hong Kong Case, Lok Sang Ho, Xiangdong Wei, Wai Chung, Gary Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The dramatic increase in the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers observed in many developed countries has received much attention from economists in recent years. A similar rise of wage gap has now been observed for some newly developed economies, such as Hong Kong. However, few empirical studies have been carried out to explain the growing wage gap in these newly developed economies. This study uses the time series data to investigate the impact of increased outward processing trade with the Chinese Mainland on the wage inequality of Hong Kong. We found that there is a significant positive association …

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Education Reform In Hk : The Ideal Versus The Reality About Competition, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2003

Education Reform In Hk : The Ideal Versus The Reality About Competition, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper argues that the stumbling block to effective education reform in Hong Kong is a misguided philosophy that wrongly puts the blame on examinations as the source of anxiety and distortion of the education process, when in fact it is “the musical chair game” set-up that pervades the education system from primary school through universities, that is distorting the entire education process.

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A New (And Old) Macroeconomic Policy Framework, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2003

A New (And Old) Macroeconomic Policy Framework, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

This paper proposes a framework built on the simple Keynesian Cross but recommends a non-Keynesian fiscal monetary policy mix. A fiscal policy conditions index and a monetary conditions index are proposed, to be compared to the full employment compatible fiscal and monetary conditions. Fiscal policy should be inert throughout the different phases of the business cycle while monetary policy should adjust to the changing conditions in order to maintain full employment without overheating. The slightly different policy considerations for bigger and for smaller economies are discussed.

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Competition Policy Under Laissez-Faireism : Market Power And Its Treatment In Hong Kong, K. Y., Edward Chen, Ping Lin Jan 2002

Competition Policy Under Laissez-Faireism : Market Power And Its Treatment In Hong Kong, K. Y., Edward Chen, Ping Lin

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The paper describes the current competition policy framework in Hong Kong: how it came into existence, what business practices are prohibited, and how the enforcement system works. Recent cases in the telecommunications industry are used to illustrate the sectoral approach, the unique feature of Hong Kong’s competition policy. The paper argues that a sectoral approach faces two fundamental drawbacks. First, due to having different “rules of the game” for different sectors, the allocation of resources may be distorted in the long run. Second, since the relevant regulatory agencies perform dual roles both as competition policy enforcer and as traditional regulator …

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Education Reform : An Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho Jan 2002

Education Reform : An Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

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"One Country, Two Systems" In Practice : An Analysis Of Six Cases, Yiu Chung Wong Aug 2001

"One Country, Two Systems" In Practice : An Analysis Of Six Cases, Yiu Chung Wong

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was unique in the decolonization history of the United Kingdom. For the first time a piece of British colony was returned to another sovereign power without becoming an independent country. For the PRC, the resumption of sovereignty was a natural course of event because China had never admitted that Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom. After initial contacts between Britain and China in the late 1970s, Chinese government decided to take back Hong Kong in 1981. In 1982, the fourth constitution since the …

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Evolving Norms Of North-South Assistance Will They Be Applied To Hiv/Aids?, Paul G. Harris, Patricia Siplon Jun 2001

Evolving Norms Of North-South Assistance Will They Be Applied To Hiv/Aids?, Paul G. Harris, Patricia Siplon

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The world is in the early stages of what will be the greatest health crisis in modern times. Millions of people—most of them in the world’s poor countries—are infected with HIV. The vast majority of these people will suffer and die from AIDS. The extent of this problem presents profound moral and ethical questions for the world’s wealthy people and countries, for it is they who are most able to assist the poor in addressing this tragedy. What is more, the spread of HIV and AIDS poses major threats to the interests of the developed countries. In short, HIV/AIDS presents …

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