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Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
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Articles 1 - 30 of 52
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
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 …
Hong Kong's Dual Identities And Sporting Mega-Event Policy, Brian Bridges
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'. …
The Housing Ladder And Hong Kong Housing Market's Boom And Bust Cycle, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong
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.
Corruption In Bank Lending To Firms : Do Competition And Information Sharing Matter?, James R. Barth, Chen Lin, Ping Lin, Frank M. Song
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 …
Health Care Financing Reform : A Socio-Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho
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.
Happiness Index Survey 2006 : Annual Report, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong
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.
A Survey Report On Happiness Index And Determinants Of Happiness In Hong Kong, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong
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.
Facing Reality : Pernicious Obstacles To Collective Action On Climate Change, Paul G. Harris
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 …
Happiness And Public Policy, Lok Sang Ho
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 …
Rmb Revaluation And Speculative Capital Inflows : Policy Options, Yue Ma, Huayu Sun
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 …
Macroeconomic Instability In Hong Kong : Internal And External Factors, Yue Ma, Y.Y. Kueh, Raymond C.W. Ng
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 …
An Alternative Roadmap To Middle East Peace, Lok Sang Ho
An Alternative Roadmap To Middle East Peace, Lok Sang Ho
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
No abstract provided.
Privatization Of Public Housing : Did It Cause The 1998 Recession In Hong Kong?, Lok Sang Ho, Wai Chung, Gary Wong
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 …
Managers' Occupational Stress In China : The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Changqin Lu, Oi Ling Siu, Cary L. Cooper
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 …
The Effect Of Trade On Wage Inequality : The Hong Kong Case, Lok Sang Ho, Xiangdong Wei, Wai Chung, Gary Wong
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 …
Education Reform In Hk : The Ideal Versus The Reality About Competition, Lok Sang Ho
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.
A New (And Old) Macroeconomic Policy Framework, Lok Sang Ho
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.
Competition Policy Under Laissez-Faireism : Market Power And Its Treatment In Hong Kong, K. Y., Edward Chen, Ping Lin
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 …
Education Reform : An Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho
Education Reform : An Economic Perspective, Lok Sang Ho
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
No abstract provided.
"One Country, Two Systems" In Practice : An Analysis Of Six Cases, Yiu Chung Wong
"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 …
Evolving Norms Of North-South Assistance Will They Be Applied To Hiv/Aids?, Paul G. Harris, Patricia Siplon
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 …
Ecology And Foreign Policy : Theoretical Lessons From The Literature, John Barkdull, Paul G. Harris
Ecology And Foreign Policy : Theoretical Lessons From The Literature, John Barkdull, Paul G. Harris
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
A comprehensive understanding of international environmental politics requires attention to foreign policy. In this essay we describe many of the most prominent—and some of the less prominent—theories and approaches to foreign policy and international relations, with emphasis on how they can help us to better understand foreign policy in the environmental issue area. We organize the theories into three categories: systemic theories, which emphasize the influence of the international system, including the distribution of power within it; societal theories, which focus our attention on domestic politics and culture; and state-centric theories, which find answers to questions about foreign policy within …
Health Care Financing And Delivery In Hong Kong : What Should Be Done, Lok Sang Ho
Health Care Financing And Delivery In Hong Kong : What Should Be Done, Lok Sang Ho
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
In this paper, I would provide a logically consistent taxonomy of alternative health care financing avenues. I then explore the implications of these alternatives, finally establishing the conclusion that a combination of tax-financing and capped voluntary payments, supplemented by the setting of "moral hazard neutral" fees, would serve the purposes of expenditure containment, universal access to health care, and optimal resource allocation.
Incentives And Corruption In Chinese Economic Reform, Chengze, Simon Fan, Herschel I. Grossman
Incentives And Corruption In Chinese Economic Reform, Chengze, Simon Fan, Herschel I. Grossman
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
This paper argues that, given the legacy of Chinese communism and its political structure, corruption, together with the threat of punishment for corruption and the selective enforcement of this threat, serves as a method of compensation that both satisfies the political objectives of the Communist Party and provides an effective inducement to local officials to promote economic reform.
Government Expenditures And Equilibrium Real Exchange Rates, Ronald J. Balvers, Jeffrey H. Bergstrand
Government Expenditures And Equilibrium Real Exchange Rates, Ronald J. Balvers, Jeffrey H. Bergstrand
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
Economists have long investigated theoretically and empirically the relationship between government spending and equilibrium real exchange rates. As Frenkel and Razin (1996) summarize for a small open economy, government expenditures (financed by lump-sum taxes) influence real exchange rates via a resource-withdrawal channel and a consumption-tilting channel. Recent theoretical and empirical studies, such as Froot and Rogoff (1991), Rogoff (1992), De Gregorio, Giovannini, and Krueger (1994), De Gregorio, Giovannini, and Wolf (1994), De Gregorio and Wolf (1994), and Chinn and Johnston (1996), have focused only upon the effects of government spending through the resource-withdrawal channel. Extending Frenkel and Razin (1996), this …
Safety Climate And Employee Health Among Blue Collar Workers In Hong Kong And China : Age And Gender Differences, Oi Ling Siu, Lan Donald, David Rosser Phillips, Kwok Hung, Billy She
Safety Climate And Employee Health Among Blue Collar Workers In Hong Kong And China : Age And Gender Differences, Oi Ling Siu, Lan Donald, David Rosser Phillips, Kwok Hung, Billy She
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
The present study administers a Chinese version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) to blue collar Chinese workers in Hong Kong (N=120, 44 males, 66 females) and China (N=313, 83 males, 223 females); it examines relations among safety climate (safety attitudes and communication), work stress (job strains) and safety performance (accident rates and occupational injuries). The study also aims at comparing safety climate and safety performance between older and younger workers, and between male and female workers. The results show that the Chinese SAQ is a moderately reliable instrument; some safety attitude scales are related to accident rates for both …
Age Differences In Work Adjustment : A Study Of Male And Female Managerial Stress, Coping Strategies And Locus Of Control In Hong Kong, Oi Ling Siu, Paul E. Spector, Cary L. Cooper, Kate Sparks, Ian Donald
Age Differences In Work Adjustment : A Study Of Male And Female Managerial Stress, Coping Strategies And Locus Of Control In Hong Kong, Oi Ling Siu, Paul E. Spector, Cary L. Cooper, Kate Sparks, Ian Donald
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
The present study is a 15 month project which involved data collection from Hong Kong managers at three points to examine mechanisms by which age would relate to work well-being. A total of 634 managers, both male and female, was drawn by random sampling and purposive sampling methods. The results showed that age was negatively related to job strains and quitting intention, and positively related to job satisfaction. Furthermore, older managers reported fewer sources of stress, better control coping, and a more internal work locus of control. Multiple regression analyses suggested that relations of age with job satisfaction and well-being …
Implementing Efficient Allocations In A Model Of Financial Intermediation, Edward J. Green
Implementing Efficient Allocations In A Model Of Financial Intermediation, Edward J. Green
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
In a nite-trader version of the Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model, the ex-ante efficient allocation is implementable by a direct mechanism (i.e., each trader announces the type of his own ex-post preference) in which truthful revelation is the strictly dominant strategy for each trader. When the model is modified by formalizing the sequential-service constraint (cf. Wallace, 1988), the truth-telling equilibrium implements the symmetric, ex-ante efficient allocation with respect to iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies.
Health Care Delivery And Financing : In Search Of An Ideal Model - Reflections On The Harvard Report, Lok Sang Ho
Health Care Delivery And Financing : In Search Of An Ideal Model - Reflections On The Harvard Report, Lok Sang Ho
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
There are three models of health care delivery and financing: the market model, the professional model, and the bureaucracy-dominated model. The Hospital Authority in Hong Kong is essentially a professional model, but it is supplemented by the bureaucracy-dominated model (the Department of Health) and private suppliers. The Harvard consultants see such a system as fragmented and inefficient but their proposals place too much emphasis on the market and have ignored the peculiar nature of the health care market. Although some of the principles that they espouse, such as protection against excessive burden and prevention of moral hazard, are good and …
A Structural Equation Model Of Environmental Attitude And Behaviour : The Hong Kong Experience, Oi Ling Siu, Kui Yin Cheung
A Structural Equation Model Of Environmental Attitude And Behaviour : The Hong Kong Experience, Oi Ling Siu, Kui Yin Cheung
Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series
The present study aims at establishing a structural equation model relating affect, verbal commitment, and actual commitment using a sample of 271 university students (119 males, 152 females) by applying the theory of reasoned action (Aizen & Fishbein, 1980). A linear structural equation relation (LISREL) model was developed to verify that verbal commitment is a function of affect, and in tum, determine actual commitment. Sixty percent of the variance of verbal commitment could be explained by affect, and 19 % of actual commitment could be explained by verbal commitment; yet only a small percentage of the variance of actual commitment …