{"id":12301,"date":"2010-06-16T16:43:26","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T23:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=12301"},"modified":"2010-06-26T07:38:41","modified_gmt":"2010-06-26T14:38:41","slug":"in-a-sense-britain-inadvertently-through-its-actions-in-hong-kong-did-more-to-reduce-world-poverty-than-all-the-aid-programs-that-weve-undertaken-in-the-last-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12301\/in-a-sense-britain-inadvertently-through-its-actions-in-hong-kong-did-more-to-reduce-world-poverty-than-all-the-aid-programs-that-weve-undertaken-in-the-last-century\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIn a sense, Britain inadvertently, through its actions in Hong Kong, did more to reduce world poverty than all the aid programs that we\u2019ve undertaken in the last century.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Atlantic<\/em><\/a>, an explication of economist Paul Romer’s idea to build modern-day Hong Kong-like enclaves to promote development in poverty-stricken counties:<\/p>\n

When Romer explains charter cities, he likes to invoke Hong Kong. For much of the 20th century, Hong Kong’s economy left mainland China’s in the dust, proving that enlightened rules can make a world of difference. By an accident of history, Hong Kong essentially had its own charter—a set of laws and institutions imposed by its British colonial overseers—and the charter served as a magnet for go-getters. At a time when much of East Asia was ruled by nationalist or Communist strongmen, Hong Kong’s colonial authorities put in place low taxes, minimal regulation, and legal protections for property rights and contracts; between 1913 and 1980, the city’s inflation-adjusted output per person jumped more than eightfold, making the average Hong Kong resident 10 times as rich as the average mainland Chinese, and about four-fifths as rich as the average Briton. Then, beginning around 1980, Hong Kong’s example inspired the mainland’s rulers to create copycat enclaves. Starting in Shenzhen City, adjacent to Hong Kong, and then curling west and north around the Pacific shore, China created a series of special economic zones that followed Hong Kong’s model. Pretty soon, one of history’s greatest export booms was under way, and between 1987 and 1998, an estimated 100 million Chinese rose above the $1-a-day income that defines abject poverty. The success of the special economic zones eventually drove China’s rulers to embrace the export-driven, pro-business model for the whole country. “In a sense, Britain inadvertently, through its actions in Hong Kong, did more to reduce world poverty than all the aid programs that we’ve undertaken in the last century,” Romer observes drily.<\/p>\n

Of course, versions of China’s special economic zones have existed elsewhere, especially in Asia. But Romer is not just arguing for enclaves; he is arguing for enclaves that are run by foreign governments. To Romer, the fact that Hong Kong was a colonial experiment, imposed upon a humiliated China by means of a treaty signed aboard a British warship, is not just an Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Atlantic, an explication of economist Paul Romer’s idea to build modern-day Hong Kong-like enclaves to promote development in poverty-stricken counties: When Romer explains charter cities, he likes to invoke Hong Kong. For much of the 20th century, Hong Kong’s economy left mainland China’s in the dust, proving that enlightened rules can make a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,24,212,29,379],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-flourishing","9":"category-group-therapy","10":"category-innovation","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17680,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17680\/overnight-news-the-music-of-a-people-who-will-not-be-slaves-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":12301,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: The music of a people who will not be slaves\u00a0again?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the awful consequences of the Deep State's deep aversion to Donald Trump and his supporters is the deliverance of Hong Kong in to Red China's bloody clutches. 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