When discussing inequality and poverty in Hong Kong, scholars and politicians often focus on the failures of government policy and push for an increase in social welfare. Richard Wong argues in Fixing Inequality in Hong Kong that universal retirement support, minimum wage, and standard hours of work are of limited effect in alleviating inequality. By comparing Hong Kong with Singapore, he points out that Hong Kong needs a new and long-term strategy on human resource policy. He recommends more investment in education, starting with early education and immigration policy reforms to attract highly educated and skilled people to join the workforce. In analyzing what causes inequality, this book ties disparate issues together into a coherent framework, such as Hong Kong's aging population, lack of investment in human capital, and family breakdowns. Rising divorce rates among low-income households have created a shortage of housing, driving rents and property prices upwards, and enlarging the wealth gap between those who own housing and those who do not, thus causing intergenerational upward mobility. This is the third of Richard Wong's collections of articles on society and economy in Hong Kong. Diversity and Occasional Anarchy and Hong Kong Land for Hong Kong People, published by Hong Kong University Press in 2013 and 2015 respectively, discuss growing contradictions in Hong Kong's economy and current housing problems as well as their solutions.

When discussing inequality and poverty in Hong Kong, scholars and politicians often focus on the failures of government policy and push for an increase in social welfare. Richard Wong argues in Fixing Inequality in Hong Kong that universal retirement support, minimum wage, and standard hours of work are of limited effect in shrinking the inequality gap. By comparing Hong Kong with Singapore, he points out that Hong Kong needs a new and long-term strategy on human resource policy. He recommends more investment in education, focusing on early education and immigration policy reforms to attract highly educated and skilled people to join the workforce. In analyzing what causes inequality, this book ties disparate issues together into a coherent framework, such as Hong Kong’s aging population, lack of investment in human capital, and family breakdowns. Rising divorce rates among low-income households have worsened the housing shortage, driving rents and property prices upwards. Housing problems have created a bigger gap between those who own housing and have the ability to invest in their children’s human capital and those who cannot, thus adversely impacting intergenerational upward mobility. This is the third of Richard Wong’s collections of articles on society and economy in Hong Kong. Diversity and Occasional Anarchy and Hong Kong Land for Hong Kong People, published by Hong Kong University Press in 2013 and 2015 respectively, discuss growing economic and social contradictions in Hong Kong and current housing problems and their solutions.

Hong Kong has remained a wealthy financial hub despite its exportoriented economy being adversely interrupted by the challenging global economic uncertainties and vulnerabilities that have occurred since the late 1990s. Yet, Hong Kong's income inequality is greater than that in any developed economy. The growing unequal income distribution and poverty in Hong Kong have aroused public concern. This book is a timely and important opportunity to advance the theory and practice of poverty and social exclusion measurement, and to conduct policy relevant analyses in Hong Kong. This collection was inspired by the workshop formed one key research output of the Poverty and Social Exclusion in Hong Kong (PSEHK) project funded by the Research Grants Council and the UK Economic and Social Research Council. It is hoped that this collection will inspire comparative research and policy analyses for better policy initiatives.

On the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, this book presents the first monographic study of the Hong Kong Basic Law as an economic document. The Basic Law codifies what Gonzalo Villalta Puig and Eric C Ip call free market constitutionalism, the logic of Hong Kong’s economic liberty as the freest market economy in the world. This book, which is the outcome of several years of study with the financial support of the General Research Fund of Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council, evaluates the public choice rationale of the Basic Law and its projection on the Hong Kong economy, with a focus on the policy development of economic liberty both internally and externally. In the academic tradition of James M Buchanan’s constitutional political economy, the book opens with a conceptualisation of free market constitutionalism in Hong Kong. It studies the origins of this concept in the 19th-century classically liberal common law and how it developed into a Hayekian laissez-faire convention under British colonial rule, was codified into the Basic Law and is interpreted and applied by the branches of the Government of the Region. The book closes with remarks on the future of Hong Kong’s free market constitutionalism in face of recent challenges as the year 2047 approaches and the 50 years of ‘unchanged’ capitalist system under the Basic Law pass. This book will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners of law, economics, political science and public administration. It will especially appeal to those with an interest in Hong Kong law, international economic law or comparative constitutional law.

First published in 1997, this volume recognises the issue of gender inequality in Hong Kong housing. The invisibility of the housing problem is compounded by the dominant patriarchal Chinese culture in Hong Kong. The issue remains marginal in Western countries as well, despite increasing concern. Kam Wah Chan makes meaningful, insightful progress on the housing issue in Hong Kong by focusing on the crucial issues of housing for lone mothers and for women in new towns.

This book discusses the policy and public health challenges in Hong Kong from the perspective of economic and social welfare challenges, specifically focusing on the poverty and inequality research supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust. Conducted by Prof Yip and his research team at the HKJC’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong across a five-year period, the book presents analyses based on high quality statistical data to explore some of the socioeconomic roots of the civil unrest in 2019, while also acknowledging the limitations and challenges of trying to build a stronger society under the constraints of the One Country Two Systems policy. Building on extensive research done by the research team and some governmental data, it provides concrete, evidence-based suggestions for reducing poverty in a high-income society, which are useful not only for Hong Kong but also for other societies experiencing similar challenges. It makes an original contribution to research into inequalities, poverty and social policies, and will be of interest to those seeking to understand the ongoing political challenges in Hong Kong and how they relate to the socioeconomic challenges and policies that affect the everyday lives of ordinary people there. It is relevant to academics, students and policymakers concerned with social inequalities and policy intervention.

This book discusses the policy and public health challenges in Hong Kong from the perspective of economic and social welfare challenges, specifically focusing on the poverty and inequality research supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust. Conducted by Prof Yip and his research team at the HKJC's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong across a five-year period, the book presents analyses based on high quality statistical data to explore some of the socioeconomic roots of the civil unrest in 2019, while also acknowledging the limitations and challenges of trying to build a stronger society under the constraints of the One Country Two Systems policy. Building on extensive research done by the research team and some governmental data, it provides concrete, evidence-based suggestions for reducing poverty in a high-income society, which are useful not only for Hong Kong but also for other societies experiencing similar challenges. It makes an original contribution to research into inequalities, poverty and social policies, and will be of interest to those seeking to understand the ongoing political challenges in Hong Kong and how they relate to the socioeconomic challenges and policies that affect the everyday lives of ordinary people there. It is relevant to academics, students and policymakers concerned with social inequalities and policy intervention.