Yue Chim Richard Wong 王于漸
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Education and Earnings of the Bottom 99%

By YueChim Richard On 2014/06/04 · Add Comment · 5,333 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 4 June 2014) Capitalist markets respond to economic opportunities. If the quality of the labor force is insufficiently skilled, then businesses will only create low-end jobs to make the best of what is available. The real failure is that of public policy and insufficient investment in education to address the shortage of skilled workers over the past 30 to 40 years. The government has failed in the area where its presence is most needed.
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The Top 1% and Top 10% of Income Earners

By YueChim Richard On 2014/05/28 · Add Comment · 9,588 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 28 May 2014) And there is the basic truth that the late Professor Sherwin Rosen of the University of Chicago taught us in 1981 about the rise of superstars. Technology and globalization have given greater scope and opportunity to those with extraordinary entrepreneurial ability, luck, or managerial skill. America has frequently been referred to as the land of opportunity. It still is!
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Gary Becker’s Contribution to Economics and the Chicago School

By YueChim Richard On 2014/05/21 · Add Comment · 8,153 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 21 May 2014) Economists were continuing to nose into new fields of social behavior. They have been doing so at least since Becker wrote about crime and the family in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . . they pride themselves on the sophistication of their investigative methods. They are usually better at teasing confessions out of data than their rivals in other social sciences. What defines economics today? Economics is what economists do –– the best of them, anyway. This is the influence of Gary Becker and the Chicago School.
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Remembering My Teacher Professor Gary Becker

By YueChim Richard On 2014/05/14 · Add Comment · 12,547 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 14 May 2014) Becker devoted his entire life to studying and teaching economics. He was very hopeful that China would succeed at developing its market economy and believed that there was a real chance it would happen. He felt that as long as China could keep competition in the market place alive, then incentives for the efficient allocation of resources to stimulate growth and innovation would be present, and institutional change would emerge in good time. He also thought the inability of Japan to enhance market competition was a major stumbling block in sustaining her economic growth. I felt he saw China’s economic success as a major breakthrough in alleviating poverty around the world, just as Hong Kong had showed the world the power of market competition in promoting prosperity for the people.
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Factors Critical for Improving Intergenerational Mobility

By YueChim Richard On 2014/05/07 · Add Comment · 7,513 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 7 May 2014) The findings from the US and Hong Kong strongly suggest that public sector housing policy to subsidize low-income families should be changed from providing subsidized rental housing units to homeownership units. This would have three different effects for increasing intergenerational mobility among low-income households.
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Upward Mobility in the US and Hong Kong (Part 1)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/04/30 · Add Comment · 8,656 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 30 April 2014) A more plausible interpretation of upward mobility in Hong Kong is that it improved dramatically for the cohort born in 1946-56 and remained stable afterwards. The cohort that was born in 1961-71 lucked out as upward mobility received a huge boost due to middle class emigration in the lead up to 1997. Since then upward mobility in Hong Kong has returned to the same stable level.
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Polarization of the Chief Executive Elections and Political Development (Part 4)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/04/23 · Add Comment · 6,890 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 23 April 2014) The development of majoritarian democracy in Hong Kong is both a moral issue and a practical collective issue of grave consequence. Politicians on both sides have spun a narrative urging the public to action based on first principles without considering that the consequences could be both politically and morally hazardous. None of us are able to see the future clearly, but this should not be an excuse for not making the effort. Politicians who ignore the potential consequences of their actions commit the ultimate irresponsible act. On matters of grave importance any proposed action should be required to pass two moral tests, not just one: whether it is intrinsically right and whether its consequences are acceptable. It should not come down to a test that only provides a convenient narrative for the politicians concerned.
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The Chief Executive Elections and Political Development (Part 3) – Popular Political Representation through Functional Constituencies

By YueChim Richard On 2014/04/16 · Add Comment · 7,109 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 16 April 2014) Political representatives would better reflect the common interests of the majority of the people. They would cease to be perceived as chiefly representatives of producers rather than consumers, of the elites rather than the public, and of old interests rather than new and upcoming ones. Democratic political systems based only on geographical constituencies have a strong built-in tendency to be less responsive to changes in the external environment and too focused on narrow local interests.
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The Chief Executive Elections and Political Development (Part 2) – Functional and Geographical Constituencies Compared

By YueChim Richard On 2014/04/09 · Add Comment · 12,592 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 9 April 2014) A society where every voter has two votes – one (work-oriented) cast through functional constituencies and the other (life-oriented) through geographical constituencies – has a better chance of balancing important and substantive interests and preferences.
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The Chief Executive Elections and Political Development (Part 1)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/04/02 · Add Comment · 5,650 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 2 April 2014) It is well worth exploring, however, ways to reconstitute the election of representatives in the functional constituencies . . . . because they affect both the nomination of the Chief Executive and the election of members to the Legislative Council in a politically substantive way. How we reform this element of the political landscape in Hong Kong at this juncture . . . . is critical for the near and distant future. Reconstituting the elections to functional constituencies could suggest a pathway of future political development in Hong Kong and hopefully revive faith in the idea that democratic development should be a process of building institutions and trust among different parties. It would then focus our minds on the central task of building a more representative government that can work effectively for the long-term interest of the Hong Kong people.
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Tackling Long-term Budget Deficits in a Free and Ageing Society (Part 3)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/03/26 · Add Comment · 4,964 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 26 March 2014) Investing in this industry will bring huge benefits not only to the elderly population but also the younger generation in terms of creating good economic opportunities and upward social mobility. . . . . medical and health care services should become one of our best exports. Investing in our biomedical and health care industry is a no-brainer for Hong Kong and it is affordable. It should be the focus of our science and technology policy and our creativity and innovation industry strategy. Hong Kong has every reason to become a leading medical and health care center in Asia.
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Health Care and Rising Public Budgets in a Free Society (Part 2)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/03/19 · Add Comment · 8,444 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 19 March 2014) In 2011, 2.56% of GDP was spent on health in the public sector. This will increase to 5.65% in 2041, an increase of 121% under the “baseline scenario”. The corresponding figures for 2100 are 8.8% of GDP and an increase of 244% above the 2011 baseline public sector health expenditure figure. These are very large increases. Of course the high growth figures are even more alarming especially over the long-term.
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On Balancing Rising Long-Term Budgets for a Free Society (Part 1)

By YueChim Richard On 2014/03/12 · Add Comment · 6,528 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 12 March 2014) Housing, education, health and social welfare expenditures as a whole have taken up one-half of government expenditures today. Every single component of these expenditures can be safely predicted to rise further into the long-term future due to demographic and political forces. Will our economy be able to finance them without radical changes in how we raise revenues and fund these activities? And if we make radical changes, what will happen to our society? Will there be political consensus on the way forward?
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Childhood Memories to Salute Women’s Day

By YueChim Richard On 2014/03/05 · Add Comment · 8,936 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 5 March 2014) A woman could help her husband more effectively by contributing to the family business, . . . . Better-educated mothers also raised more productive children . . . . Hong Kong’s entrepreneurial families have contributed not only to the city’s economic success but also raised more stable and arguably happier families. . . . . women of Hong Kong . . . . contributed to our community’s economic success and social stability over the years . . . . They have kept their families together, cared for their children and supported their husbands. They are the bedrock on which our economy and society have flourished.
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Fears, Economic Crises, and Political Coalitions in the Rise of the Welfare State

By YueChim Richard On 2014/02/26 · Add Comment · 5,298 views
(This essay was published in Hong Kong Economic Journal on 26 February 2014) The rise of the welfare state in Europe and America has been driven not only by the tragic logic of political economy we discussed in previous essays, but also by historical circumstances over the past century. The consequences, for example, the rising burden of public debt and growing share of single parent families among low-income households, will continue to affect the lives of people in the present century.
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