Fraser Institute Economic Freedom in the World Index 2014 – top 10 countries
13 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
A tale of two cities – Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s different paths to prosperity
13 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: Alywn Young, development economics, Hong Kong, industry policy, industry targeting, rent seeking, Singapore, tale of two cities, tyranny of numbers
Hong Kong and Singapore had different paths to prosperity. Alywn Young found that Hong Kong had made real productivity gains, but Singapore grew by a massive dose of savings and investment, including foreign investment.
For most of the post-war era, the Hong Kong government adopted a policy of minimal intervention. the government of Singapore has pursued maximalist policies involving widespread state participation in economic activity and aggressive industry targeting policies.
The share of investment in Singapore’s GDP rose from 9% in 1960 to 43% in 1984, while Hong Kong’s remained steady at about 20%. Productivity growth in the aggregate non-agricultural economy was a miserable -0.3% in Singapore and 2.3% in Hong Kong.
What does this mean in practical terms? Real consumption, real consumer spending, per capita in Hong Kong is 20% or more higher than in Singapore!
Hong Kong actually enjoyed their prosperity. Robert Barro explains this in a comment on Young’s paper:
In 1985, when Singapore’s per capita real GDP was 102% of Hong Kong’s, the consumption was only 70% of Hong Kong’s. To put it another way, Hong Kong’s per capita real consumption grew by 5.9% per year from 1960 to 1985, about the same as for GDP, whereas Singapore’s grew by only 2.8% per year, much less than GDP.
In terms of output per capita and output per worker, the growth of Hong Kong and Singapore are equally impressive. Hong Kong does much better in terms of productivity growth.
Hong Kong did not require as rapid capital accumulation as Singapore. Since capital accumulation is financed either by domestic saving or foreign saving, people in Hong Kong can afford to save less or borrow less from foreign economies. Saving less now means more consumption now.
In the case of Hong Kong, their living standards are far superior to Singapore’s. The government of Singapore wasted a good 20 to 30% of national income on industry targeting and compulsory savings.
Hong Kong experienced rapid total productivity growth, while Singapore experienced no improvement whatsoever in total productivity during its East Asian Tiger years. Young (1992, 1994, 1995) demonstrated that from 1967 onward total factor productivity growth in Singapore was next to nil, and for significant parts of the period most likely negative. Only productivity allows a nation to support and enjoy high wages.
Milton Friedman Describes Hong Kong as an Example of the Free Market System
12 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth disasters, Milton Friedman Tags: Hong Kong, Milton Friedman, The Great Enrichment
Paul Krugman on those soulless multinational corporations doing business in the Third World
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
Development economics in a nutshell: Gordon Tullock developed his rent seeking insight when he was a diplomat in China
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
Beyond foreign aid – recommendations to a House of Commons enquiry
03 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: development aid, foreign aid, overseas development aid
- Reducing trade barriers that limit exports from poor countries: implementing aspects of the Doha Round negotiation could create real income gains for low- and lower middle-income countries of more than £28 billion a year.
- Facilitating private investment, especially for infrastructure: lack of infrastructure financing for African countries may be reducing growth in some countries by as much as 2% a year.
- Protecting global environmental public goods, which create substantial value for poor countries (fisheries alone contribute an estimated £17 billion a year to African economies), and the burden of whose depletion falls disproportionately on low-income countries.
- Facilitating more research and development and technology transfer, ranging from new or cheaper pharmaceutical products to intellectual property that can be used by firms in poor countries. e) Increasing the proportion of migration that comes from developing countries: even temporary migration of poor workers to rich countries creates massive annual income gains far larger than any aid programme.
- Promoting security. While civil wars have a human cost and set back economic growth, the UK spends exports £12 billion worth of military and dual-use equipment to states on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s list of Countries of Concern for human rights abuses.
Is our economic ignorance about the sources of growth increasing?
30 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, growth disasters, growth miracles, macroeconomics Tags: Solow residual
Bill Easterly on the great dangers of evidence-based policy and field trials
28 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
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