THE
To learn more about MIEPA, click here Return to MIEPA's Home Page
Below is the study by Hoi Ki Leung, a Hong Kong native who currently [May 2006] lives in San Francisco; this study presents the Hong Kong government's economic policies as compared to the MIEPA list of policies as outlined above. The ratings herein are based on the following rating scale:
RATING SCALE
5.0 Perfect Facilitation of Wealth Creation
4.0 Midway between Perfect and Neutral
3.0 Neutral Effect on Wealth Creation
2.0 Midway between Neutral and Obstructionist
1.0 Perfectly Obstructionist to Wealth Creation
[Rating scale copyright Mike P. McKeever, 2005. Used herein with permission]
To read a disclaimer about the analysis in this file, scroll to the bottom of the file.
Hong Kong - Hoi Ki Leung'
Comparison of Hong Kong's economic policies to MIEPA criteria as prepared by native student of Hong Kong, Hoi Ki Leung', studying in the US in May of 2006.
RATING SUMMARY
POLICY NUMBER RAW SCORE ADJUSTED SCORE POSSIBLE PERCENTAGE
1 4.0 15.0 15.0 100 %
2 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
3 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
4 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
5 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
6 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
7 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
8 2.0 6.0 15.0 40
9 5.0 15.0 15.0 100
10 4.5 13.5 15.0 90
11 3.0 9.0 15.0 60
12 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
13 4.5 9.0 10.0 90
14 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
15 1.0 2.0 10.0 20
16 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
17 4.0 10.0 10.0 100
18 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
19 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
20 1.5 3.0 10.0 30
21 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
22 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
23 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
24 2.5 5.0 10.0 50
25 1.0 2.0 10.0 20
26 1.0 2.0 10.0 20
27 4.0 8.0 10.0 80
28 5.0 10.0 10.0 100
29 4.0 4.0 5.0 80
30 2.0 2.0 5.0 40
31 5.0 5.0 5.0 100
32 4.0 4.0 5.0 80
33 4.0 4.0 5.0 80
34 4.0 4.0 5.0 80
TOTAL 136.0 302.5 375.0 80.7%
===== ====== ===== =====
Return to MIEPA's Home Page
INDIVIDUAL POLICIES
1.Freedom from internal control(5.0)
In Hong Kong you have the freedom of movement, marriage……….etc. Hong Kong people have the freedom to travel around or emigrate to any other countries. Its because Hong Kong is a democracy city, so you can do anything you want there but which will not break the laws or harm the public.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
2. Freedom of speech(5.0)
Under the basic law Hong Kong residents have the freedom of speech, publication and assembly, which means that you can say anything that you want and you will not be arrested unless you did something that will harm the public or the country.
Source: www.info.gov.hk/basic_law.
3. Effective, fair police force (5.0)
The Hong Kong police is well trained, they are responsible. The Hong Kong police is under a independent department called ICAC which is committed to fight corruption through effective law enforcement, education and prevention to help to keep Hong Kong fair and stable.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
4. Private Property Right(5.0)
Under the basic law, people are free to sell the own property. Also if there are some ideas that from you or any products that made by you, then you can apply the copyright for that, once you get the copyright, no one can steal or use it. Also from the article 105 of the basic law, The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall, in accordance with law, protect the right of individuals and legal persons to the acquisition, use, disposal and inheritance of property and their right to compensation for lawful deprivation of their property, and the ownership of enterprises and the investments from outside the Region shall be protected by law.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/fulltext/c-index.htm
5.Commercial Bank(5.0)
There is a lot of commercial banks in Hong Kong such as the shanghai commercial bank, Asia commercial bank, Nanyan commercial bank…….etc. All of them are licensed and under supervising by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. All of the banks provided good services and most of them are well-known bank over the world.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
6. Communication system(5.0)
In Hong Kong there has more than 6 newspaper which includes Chinese and English, 7 radio channel, 4 free TV channels and other fees charge channels. Which makes that we can spread the news very fast. Also in Hong Kong every 10 people there is 9 of them that have a cell phone which means that it’s more easy to communicate with each other.
Source: www. Ofta.gov.hk
7. Transport(5.0)
There has good transportation system in Hong Kong because they have the Transport Department who control all the transportation in Hong Kong and communicate with the government and the public. In Hong Kong there has 5 railways, 5 bus companies, mini bus, taxis, trams and ferries. Also there has 10 tunnels which make people would be more easy to go from one place to the others.
Sources: http://www.td.gov.hk/transport_in_hong_kong/tunnels_and_bridges/index.htm
8. Education (2.0)
The Government's policy objectives are to provide equitable access to nine years' free and universal primary and junior secondary education to all children in the relevant age group. Most of the Hong Kong people finished form 5 in secondary schools and they will attend the HKCEE when they are Form 5. But every year there only have 50% student that can promote to form 6 and only 30% them can go to universities. Also the policies always changed which make the education in Hong Kong become worse. Such as they make the secondary school use Chinese to teach which makes that there has less people can speck good English, that makes them harder to find a good job in Hong Kong or in other country.
Source: http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=1909&langno=2; Personal Knowledge
9. Social Mobility(5.0)
In Hong Kong there has a department called Education and Manpower Bureau, it provides quality school education for students, to develop their potential to the full and to prepare them for the challenges in life. Also the Vocational Training Council promote the New Technology Training Scheme to help employers train their technologists in new technologies which are beneficial to Hong Kong's industry and commerce. And the Hong Kong Institution of Vocational Education offers higher diploma, diploma, higher certificate, certificate and craft level courses which are designed to enable young people to build a successful career which let them can more easy to find job.
Source: http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeid=672&langno=1
10 Freedom from outside control(4.5)
Under the basic law, Hong Kong can develop relations with any other countries. Also Hong Kong has the right to send any offenders to their own country and the H.K. citizens who were arrested in other countries should be bought back to HK and justified by HK.
Source:www.info.gov.hk
11. Foreign Currency Transactions(3.0)
There is no foreign currency transaction control in Hong Kong, so most of the shop in Hong Kong only accept HK dollar when you purchase things. But the HKMA has the “Exchange Rate System” for now $7.78HKD = $1USD.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/chi/currency/link_ex/index.htm
12. Border control(5.0)
In Hong Kong the Customs and Excise Department decides who can enter to hk, also they protect the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region against smuggling and protect and facilitate legitimate trade and industry and to uphold Hong Kong's trading integrity. So on these the department did a very good job.
Source: http://www.customs.gov.hk/eng/about_vision_e.html
13. Currency(4.5)
If the banks in Hong Kong want to issue the new Hong Kong dollar, they must get the permission from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) first. Also not all the bank in Hong Kong can issue new bills, only the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd., the Standard Chartered Bank and the Bank of China ( Hong Kong) can do it. In the daily live we only use hk dollar, but more and more Chinese people travel from China to Hong Kong, so some of the shops begin to accept RMB too.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/chi/hkma/index.htm
14. Culture, Language Homogeneity(5.0)
In Hong Kong more than 95% people are Chinese, so in the daily life the communicate in Cantonese. And in school they use Chinese and English to teach, most of the people in Hong Kong know how to speck Cantonese and English. So that they lived in a place that all the people have the same culture and language.
Source: Personal knowledge
15. Political effectiveness(1.0)
The political effectiveness is related to the China government. Because even the Central People’s Government of China give us a lot of freedom, but they appointed the Chief executive to us. For example, the first chief executive Mr. Tung made the anger of the Hong Kong people increased, because he failed to solve the problems and the “ Article 23” issue which made more than 500,000 gathering and rallies on 7/1/03. Even now they have changed the chief executive, but it’s still the same because he still appointed by the Chinese government, which makes more people in Hong Kong hope that they can have their own election to choose the chief executive.
Source: www.info.gov.hk/basic_law
16. Institutional stability(5.0)
Since Hong Kong returned to China, under the “ One county, two system” we have the basic law, also the China government promised us Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years. Also Hong Kong was authorized to have a high degree of autonomy and enjoy executive, legislative and independent judicial power.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
17 Honest Government (5.0)
There is a department called ICAC, which is committed to fighting corruption through effective law enforcement, education and prevention to help keep Hong Kong fair, just, stable and prosperous. They Pursue the corrupt through effective detection, investigation and prosecution; eliminate opportunities for corruption by introducing corruption resistant practices; and educate the public on the evils of corruption and foster their support in fighting corruption. Because of the ICAC so Hong Kong people can live in a good environment that don’t have corruption and have a honest government.
Source: www.icac.org.hk
18. Common Laws(5.0)
Hong Kong remains to China’s control, under “ one country, two systems” we have the basic law. Under the basic law, all the people can enjoy the same rights in Hong Kong and all of them are treated the same, no one would have more benefits. Even the governors, if there is any problem about them, they would be investigated by the ICAC too. So no matter who all the people are the same under the common law.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
19. Central bank(5.0)
In Hong Kong, there is a department called The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The HKMA is the government authority in Hong Kong responsible for maintaining monetary and banking stability. Its main functions are keeping the Hong Kong dollar stable, managing the Exchange Fund - Hong Kong's official reserves - in a sound and effective way, promoting the safety of Hong Kong's banking system and developing Hong Kong's financial infrastructure to enable money to flow smoothly, freely and without obstruction. Although we don’t have a central bank in Hong Kong, the HKMA already played a very important role, it keeps the money stable.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/chi/hkma/index.htm
20. Domestic budget management (1.5)
After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Hong Kong starts to face serious domestic budget deficit, also the people's incomes decreased and deflation persisted, but the Government's operating expenditure continued to soar. It makes the Hong Kong people unhappy. Because of this the government promised that they would first cut down on spending in order to demonstrate their readiness for action. Because of their effort, in 2005 they succeeded in checking the trend of our operating expenditure, which had been on the rise for over 50 years.
Source: http://www.budget.gov.hk/2005/eng/budget3.htm
21. Government Debt (5.0)
In 2004-2005, there is a surplus of $12 billion, which equivalent to 0.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this is the first time since 1999–2000 that the Consolidated Account has recorded a surplus. It’s because of the lower-than-expected expenditure and higher-than-expected revenue this year, capital revenue in particular.
Source: http://www.budget.gov.hk/2005/eng/budget3.htm
22. Economic statistics (5.0)
There is a department called The Hong Kong census and statistic department in Hong Kong, it provides high quality statistical services. Like, they provide the External Merchandise Trade Statistics, Annual Report on the Consumer Price and Annual Report on the Consumer Price every month or year. It makes us more easy to know about the economic in Hong Kong.
Source: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/home/index.jsp
23. Protection of public health and safety (5.0)
The Surveillance & Epidemiology Branch (SEB), established in June 2004 as a branch under the Centre for Health Protection, is responsible for formulating strategies and implementing measures in the surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases. The SEB assesses the health status and health needs of the community, plans and implements health intervention programmes, and conducts research and evaluation. Also in 1997, once the HK government found out that the bide flu outbreak in HK, they killed all the chicken to prevent the people will get the disease from them.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/dh/diseases/index.htm
24. High wage policies (2.5)
The average monthly wage rate for the supervisory, technical, clerical and miscellaneous non-production workers in the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sectors was $11,549 (US$1,481). The average daily wage was $321 (US$41.2) for the craftsmen and operative levels in the manufacturing sectors. But some of the work, like working in 7-11 is only us$2 per hour, it lets us know that the normal working only have enough money to buy the basic living necessities. So it shows that the gap of wage between different jobs is very big.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/info/hkbrief/eng/living.htm
25. Environment protection (1.0)
In Hong Kong, the Environment Protection Department and the government have do a lot of things to protect the environment. Such as they set up the law that if you do not switch off you car where you are waiting or packing at the roadside to wait for someone, then you will need to pay for the fine. Also there has a lot of advertisements that teach the people to protect the environment. However no matter what they did, Hong Kong still suffers by the air pollution and the water pollution. Because the Air Pollution Index always in a high level, that always make the people do not feel good and make the people not really like to travel to Hong Kong.
Source: http://aero.spss.edu.hk/~cyberfgp1/whole.htm; http://www.epd-asg.gov.hk/eindex.php
26. Strong Army (1.0)
In fact, Hong Kong does not has it’s own army. Because Hong Kong is a part of china, after she returned to China in 1997, China send the troop that about 4,000 people to Hong Kong to protect her. But Hong Kong has it’s own police, so they don’t really have anything to do.
Source: www.info.gov.hk
27. Foreign trade impact (4.0)
In 2004---Import: $271 billion - Export:$259 billion
In fact, Hong Kong is a very small place, she is lack of raw material there, so she must rely on the foreign trade to provide goods, foreign trade is very important of Hong Kong’s economy. On the other hand, China is a really important country for Hong Kong’s foreign trade, because Hong Kong is lack of resources, most of the goods are exported by China, so Hong Kong’s foreign trading is rely on China.
Source: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2747.htm; http://www.business.gov.hk/bep/opencms/release/eng/index.html; http://www.info.gov.hk
28. Protection of foreign currency earning enterprises(5.0)
The Hong Kong government and its agencies operate a number of funding schemes and programs to help industries develop innovative ideas and enhance their technological capability as well as to support the long term development of small and medium enterprises in Hong Kong, it also turn to banks and financial institutions for financing. Which makes the company's cash-flow more manageable and predictable. And the tax in Hong Kong is very low too.
Source: http://www.business.gov.hk/bep/opencms/release/eng/start/how/index.html
29. Management of foreign currency budget(4.0)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to 127.8 billion US dollars at the end of January 2006, compare with last year (there is 121.9 billion US dollars in 8/8/2005) it increase 6 billion. Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves after Japan, Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia and India. Because Hong Kong always has a large amount of foreign currency, which makes the Hong Kong economy stable.
Source: http://english.people.com.cn/200602/08/eng20060208_240920.html; ttp://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t206557.htm
30. Layers of collective action (2.0)
According to the basic law, the Hong Kong permanent resident who have aged 18 have the right to vote, but the Chief Executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee (800 people) in accordance with this Law and appointed by the Central People's Government. Also the Chief Executive can appoint the people that he/she likes to become the member of the administrative council.
Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/fulltext/c-index.htm
31. Pro Business Climate(5.0)
Hong Kong is a free port and an financial center, the profit tax rate in Hong Kong is 17.5%, it’s low enough to do business here. Also in the Policy Address delivered on 12 October 2005, the Chief Executive said that he will continue to adhere to the principle of "Big Market, Small Government" to encourage fair competition and entrepreneurship. Also he will help the local companies to tap new growth areas such as cultural and creative industries by providing the necessary policy support.
At the same time, Hong Kong and the mainland jointly announced further liberalisation measures under the third phase of the Mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA III) on 18 October 2005, it means that mainland agrees to give all products of Hong Kong origin tariff free treatment, except for a few prohibited articles. All of these encouraged both local and international companies to invest in Hong Kong.
Source: http://www.tdctrade.com/main/economic.htm
32. Government enterprises(4.0)
In Hong Kong there has a few government owned companies, such as the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway(The profit is increasing every year, such as last year 2005 it increased HK4385 million in all business), except the MTR, the Hong Kong government also owned a lot of lands that can sell in the auction to make money. In the newest Disneyland in Hong Kong, the government own 43% of share, because of this newest Disneyland, it provided a lot of jobs opportunity.
Source: http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/zh_HK/home/home?name=HomePage; http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/investors/resultsannouncement2005.htm; http:// www.info.gov.hk
33. International Security Agreement(4.0)
Since Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, she became a part of China, it’s protected by the china government, on the same day that Hong Kong returned to china, China send the troop to Hong Kong to protect her.
Source: www.info.gov.hk; Personal knowledge
34. Protection for Domestic Enterprises from government mandated cost(4.0)
There is only a few local enterprises in Hong Kong, so the government make the tax rate low to make them can become competitiveness in the world.
Source: http://www.business.gov.hk/bep/opencms/release/eng/index.html
DISCLAIMER
All the information and conclusions in each country analysis are solely the responsibility of the individual student and have not been verified, corrected, checked for copyright infringement or evaluated in any way by MIEPA or Mike P. McKeever. You are solely responsible for the results of any use you make of the information and conclusions in these studies. Use them at your own risk as interesting supplemental information only instead of seasoned judgements about the policy factors contained herein. Each student has granted permission for his or her work to be displayed here under his or her own name or wishes to remain anonymous and have either created a pen name or used no name at all; if you wish to contact them for any reason, forward your request to MIEPA and the student will be notified of your interest.To learn more about other countries, click to other files here:
mpmckeever@earthlink.net
Please place the acronym MIEPA in the subject line.