Does School Quality Matter? Evidence from the Hong Kong Experience

This paper analyses the differential returns to education and to language ability of natives and Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. The large difference in quality between Hong Kong schools and Chinese schools provides a natural experiment for evaluating the effect of school quality on students' performance in the labor market. We show that the rate of return to schooling is more than three times higher among local-born workers than among Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong. Our analysis also suggests that English language education is one important component of the success of the Hong Kong education system.     

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO CHINA BY HONG KONG'S CROSS‐BORDER GARMENT FIRMS

Hong Kong manufacturers have historically been one of the main sources of foreign direct investment to China, but their contribution to the transfer of technology to the mainland has been questioned due to the generally labor‐ rather than capital‐intensive, low‐value‐adding activities they perform there. Using data from eighty‐four Hong Kong‐based garment manufacturers that have invested directly in mainland China, this paper examines the role of Hong Kong FDI in the transfer of technology to China. Analyses show that Hong Kong garment firms are in fact human‐capital‐intensive and are endowed with valuable managerial technology and, moreover, act as effective channels for the transfer of such technology to mainland China.     

THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM IN HONG KONG: ESTABLISHMENT AND READJUSTMENT OF THE LIBERAL WELFARE MODEL

Hong Kong's social security system has followed a “liberal” welfare state regime. The system has undergone changes along with the high economic growth, changes in the labor market, and transformation of the political environment, but has retained the fundamental principle of a social security system led by the private sector. In recent years, Hong Kong has responded to the aging population and growing unemployment by introducing the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme that requires individuals to join private‐sector pension schemes and by intensifying cooperation with nongovernmental organizations. This indicates the deep‐seated nature of the influence of the liberal regime in Hong Kong.     

Evolution of Education Premiums in Cambodia: 1997–2007

This paper evaluates education premiums in Cambodia over the past decade using data from the 1997, 2003–2004 and 2007 Socio‐economic Surveys of Households. The Cambodian labor market has undergone a transformation over the past decade. In 1997, the earnings of workers employed for wages exhibited limited association with education and skills. The picture was dramatically different by 2003 and more so by 2007. The profitability of education had increased sharply, especially for women. There is evidence that the human capital model is now applicable to both men and women, resulting in a wider distribution of earnings. Instrumental variables estimates of the return to an additional year of schooling for male wage earners are found to be higher than the corresponding OLS estimates, but only in the private sector.     

Output and Productivity Performance of Hong Kong and Singapore's Transport and Communications Sector, 1990 to 2005*

This paper uses the industry of origin approach to analyze value added and labor productivity outcomes arising from progressive liberalization of government and from statutory board control of transport and communications in Singapore. The paper compares these outcomes with those from the market‐orientated, more privatized transport and communications sector in Hong Kong, for the benchmark year 2004 and a review period from 1990 to 2005. The study is among the first to carefully compare labor productivity in specific sectors between the two countries. Although Singapore generally recorded higher levels of labor productivity, there was some catch‐up by Hong Kong in the later part of the review period. There was also substantial variation in labor productivity performance within sectoral branches in the two sectors. The study suggests there is some evidence that the different political–economic structures and policy approaches to deregulation and liberalization played a role in determining productivity performance in the transport and communications sectors in Singapore and Hong Kong. The analysis infers a potential, increasing focus on privatization as the driving force for further liberalization of the transport and communications sector in Singapore.     

University Students' Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Comparative Analysis of Hong Kong and Guangzhou

Based on original survey data, this paper analyses and compares the role of personal traits and networks in determining entrepreneurial intentions of students in Hong Kong and in Guangzhou. The two cities are culturally closely related but differ strongly with respect to their labor market conditions and the maturity of their legal and business environments. We find that the determinants of students' entrepreneurial intentions differ substantially between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, with the findings for Hong Kong showing much similarity with previous findings for Western economies. This suggests that differences in labor market prospects and in the maturity of their legal and business environments might be more important than cultural (dis‐)similarities in identifying key factors forming students' entrepreneurial intentions.     

Costs and Benefits of Export-Oriented Foreign Investment: The Case of China

The costs and benefits of export-oriented FDI have been discussed by Helleiner (1973, 1998), Watanabe (1972), Sharpston (1975), and others. Processed exports generated from FDI have constituted over half of the exports of Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and China. Despite the importance of processed exports, empirical studies of their costs and benefits are difficult due to lack of data, especially on transfer earnings. Data on the division of benefits between the source and host countries are scarce and unreliable. This paper examines the costs and benefits of export-oriented foreign investment for China. China has been highly successful in exporting and in attracting FDI, especially export-oriented FDI from Hong Kong. Since 1993, China has become the second largest recipient of FDI in the world after the US, and Hong Kong has become the world's fourth largest source of FDI after the US, UK, and Germany. China's processed exports are largely re-exported via Hong Kong. As a result, good data on the total value-added of processed exports for Mainland China and for Hong Kong are available. It is found that the rate of value-added for Mainland China is relatively low compare with that for Hong Kong, indicating transfer pricing and absence of linkages in the mainland. This appears to be due to the rigidity of China's economic system which hampers backward and forward linkages. The mainland is thus dependent on Hong Kong for many services in the value-added chain. However, the rate of value-added for China has increased substantially since 1996, indicating an increase in both backward and forward linkages.     

Football transfer fee premiums and Europe's big five

This article studies the transfer market for international football players. Analyzing a sample of 5,760 player transfers over 14 years, we provide evidence that clubs in English football pay larger transfer fee premiums compared to clubs in the top leagues of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. While the popular press often mentions the English premiums, we empirically demonstrate both their existence and their causal source. Using annual data, we show that the dramatic increase in English premiums is causally linked to the 2012 television contracts the EPL signed with domestic and international broadcasters. These findings have policy implications for the clubs, players, and governing bodies of European football, as well as indirect consequences for export‐oriented football clubs.     

Past and future of the labor force in emerging Asian economies

In this paper we investigate the determinants of past changes in the labor force of 12 emerging Asian countries, and attempt to make projections of the labor force in those countries for the period 2010–2030. Results from our regression analysis of the labor force indicate that the wage earnings elasticity of labor supply is negative, albeit insignificant, for men and significantly positive for women, and it has a significantly positive association with educational level and a negative one with age. We also find that per capita income shows a negative relationship with the labor force in general for younger age groups and older age groups, and more capital-intensive countries have smaller female labor force. Using extrapolation, the paper predicts that the labor force will increase in all 12 countries during the first two decades of the period 2010–2030, but will eventually decline in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. The paper also makes projections of the unemployment rate and the average working hours in those countries.     

An analysis of dynamic risk in the Greater China equity markets

This study looks at the time-varying nature of systematic risk in the Greater China equity markets. The Shanghai and Shenzhen markets both have a low average systematic risk when measured against the world market. The short outbursts in systematic risk for these two markets seem to be directly related to policy shifts. The Hong Kong and Taiwan markets are more integrated with world markets and they show signs of large variations in systematic risk over time. Furthermore, conditional betas in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets are stationary, while the Hong Kong and Taiwan betas are integrated of order one. In addition, long memory tests show that all four markets exhibit a long-run dependence in their conditional betas. While the two mainland China market betas are covariance stationary, the Hong Kong and Taiwan betas are not.     

Does Ethnicity Matter for Access to Childhoodand Adolescent Health Capital in China? Evidence from the Wage-Height Relationship in the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey

This paper considers whether ethnicity conditions the return and access to health capital in China. Given that the wage-height relationship reflects the labor market earnings returns to childhood and adolescent health capital, differences in the labor market returns to height by ethnicity reflect ethnic differences in access to health capital during childhood and adolescence. We theoretically motivate the role of height in earnings by providing a Bioeconomic rationale for stature and height determining individual wages, and estimate height-augmented Mincerian earnings functions with data from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Our results show that when the effects of unobserved genetic influences on adult height are accounted for, the labor market return on height is higher for Chinese ethnics. This suggests that in China there are ethnic disparities in access to the inputs that produce childhood and adolescent health capital.     

In the crossfire: Multinational companies and consumer boycotts

Multinational firms face challenges as geopolitical tensions are rising when stakeholders may have divergent views on contentious issues. Sharply different attitudes toward the proposed extradition law by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2019 and related issues were observed among some residents in mainland China and Hong Kong. While firms such as Cathay Pacific Airways expressed support of the government, it was perceived by some of its customers in mainland China that the firm was hostile to them due to the views expressed by some of its staff based in Hong Kong. In this paper, we estimate the impact of such perceived divergent staff political attitudes on consumer demand. Using a triple differences design that controls for changes in market demand and supply conditions, we find that passenger volumes from mainland China were adversely affected for Cathay Pacific, leading to a monthly decrease of approximately 20%, after contentious political views of some of its staff were widely reported in mainland China. However, the negative effects subside within a quarter. Further analysis reveals heterogeneity in consumer responses by regions, with passengers from South East Asia or countries having closer migration or trade ties with mainland China behaving similarly with those from mainland China.     

Why is the gender earnings gap greater in Korea than in the United States?

It has long been recognized that the gender earnings gap varies across countries. This paper examines the relatively higher gender earnings gap found in the Korean labor market compared to the US labor market. Using the data set representative of the population for both countries, I found that the significant part of the differences in the gender earnings gap simply arise from the differences in the observed characteristics of women among two countries. In particular, relatively lower labor market experience, current job tenure, and educational attainment by Korean female workers play dominant roles in explaining the observed higher earnings gap. In addition, wage structure and labor market discrimination seem to be against Korean female workers compared to US female workers. J. Japanese Int. Economies 21 (4) (2007) 455–469.     

江苏民营企业海外上市发行定价和后市表现实证分析

本文采用事件分析法,对江苏民营企业海外上市的发行定价和后市表现进行了实证分析。江苏民营企业海外上市地点主要是新加坡、香港和美国。研究表明,新加坡市场平均首日收益率远高于香港和美国市场;三地市场普遍存在发行抑价现象,其中,新加坡市场发行抑价率最高;从长期表现来看,美国市场后市表现较好,新加坡和香港市场后市表现弱于国内市场。     

香港旅游业的"内地化"弊端与国际化走向

针对香港旅游业出现的"内地化"趋势,从香港旅游业在国际旅游体系的地位及其发展状况出发,分析香港旅游业"内地化"存在的弊端,认为"国际化"才是香港旅游业发展的方向,并提出应加大海外市场推广和宣传工作、加强大珠三角旅游合作、利用香港的优势在全球范围内推出"过境游"及举办旅游会展活动等政策措施,以保障香港旅游业能有效地在"国际化"道路上发展。     

Stock market performance in Hong Kong: an exploratory review

This paper reviews the origin and development of the stock market in Hong Kong. The first formal stock exchange, the Association of Stockbrokers in Hong Kong, was formed in 1891. However, the activities of the stock exchange are generally regarded as insignificant until the 1970s. Since the 1980s, there have been a number of major reforms and some significant developments. These include the unification of four stock exchanges; the establishment of the Securities and Futures Commission; the closer economic relations with Mainland China; the merger of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange to form the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx); the launch of the second board (Growth Enterprise Market); and the demutualisation of the HKEx. The Exchange generally responded positively to these reforms and developments. As a result, the Hong Kong stock market experienced significant growth in terms of its market capitalisation ratio, turnover ratio, and the total value traded ratio. Despite the impressive growth in various stock market indicators, however, the Hong Kong stock market still faces some challenges, including regulatory challenges, as well as some concern over its future viability as a global equity hub.     

Are stronger executive incentives associated with cross-listing? Evidence from China

This study examines whether firms incorporated in mainland China benefit from cross-listing in Hong Kong, China. The Hong Kong Stock Market has more stringent rules regarding corporate governance and a better system of investor protection than the mainland market. Hong Kong companies generally provide strong incentives to executives via equity-based compensation. Have cross-listed companies learned from Hong Kong firms about adopting these strong executive incentives? The evidence from this study suggests that changes in top executive compensation are more sensitive to sales growth in cross-listed firms than they are in mainland firms without cross-listing. However, compared to Hong Kong firms, cross-listed firms are less sensitive to stock returns. Further, this study shows that it is necessary to differentiate between state-owned companies and private companies, as cross-listing may have a greater impact on executive incentives in state-owned companies than it does in private companies.     

创新粤港澳合作模式探讨

香港澳门地区早已进入后工业化时期。广东,珠三角正处在工业化中后期,受资源、能源和劳动力成本高等制约,产业结构迫切需要转型和优化升级;而粤北山区以及东西两翼仍停留在工业化中期阶段,甚至是初级阶段。基于产业梯度转移原理,在产业链分工合作层面,粤港澳合作模式应当创新:港澳地区主导营销服务型经济;珠三角力求成为研发设计中心;通过产业转移,粤北山区和东西两翼定位加工组装环节。     

New Insights on US Aggregate and State Level Trade with the China Region

Aggregate trade data with breakdown into related and non‐related party components show that US multinational enterprises use different trading strategies in the China region relative to other countries. US trade with the China region in 2002–2007 is characterized by arm's‐length transactions. State‐level trade data show great variability in state engagement with the region through trade: exports to the region range from 1 to 28 percent of state exports. In addition, compared to exports to other countries, exports to the region are highly concentrated. At the extreme, for some states, 96–98 percent of exports to the region are computer and electronic products. Finally, gravity regressions show that state exports to Hong Kong are positively associated with the relative size of the Hong Kong‐born population in the states. There is no evidence that stricter labor regimes lead to lower state exports.     

经济增长能带来共同富裕么——基于香港地区收入分配状况的研究

库兹涅茨倒U假说揭示的工业化国家(地区)收入分配差距"先上升,后下降"的倒U型运动轨迹在很多国家(地区)的发展经验中都无法得到验证,包括香港。作为亚洲四小龙之一,香港经济已保持了近半个世纪的持续快速增长,然而我国香港地区的收入分配状况不仅没有随着经济增长而获得改善,反而是不断恶化。造成香港社会贫富悬殊的原因有很多,主要包括缺少全面的社会保障体系,为追求经济增长实行不利于中低层群体的人才引进制度、工资制度和税收制度,市民教育程度底下,政治民主发育不足,特殊的产业结构以及经济过度的自由化等等。香港经验给我们带来的启示是不能片面追求经济增长,全民的共同富裕不会伴随着经济增长自动到来,改善收入分配状况,涉及到对各种国家政策、经济制度和政治制度全面改革。