Economic Freedom, Lessons of Hong Kong

Hong Kong has been one of the fastest growing East Asian economies since the end of the Second World War. The adoption and practice of economic freedom have been major pillars in its economic success. Indeed, the experience of Hong Kong has served as a reference for other emerging economies in the region. The scope of the book elaborates the context and ingredients of economic freedom that have brought success and prosperity to Hong Kong. With sovereignty reversion to China in 1997, it is even more relevant to see how economic freedom is shaping and adapting to the new environment.

There exist a number of economic indices based on economic freedom. Hong Kong has been ranked as the freest economy in the world for a number of consecutive years. While the economic freedom indices compare the performance of a large number of word economies, there is a lack of economic literature that studies the absolute level of economic freedom of a single economy. This book boldly serves the purpose of elaborating on the absolute performance of economic freedom in the world's freest economy. It is, therefore, the first of its kind and unique in its field. Numerous areas of studies related to economic freedom are examined, studied and elaborated so that readers can have a full and comprehensive understanding of the content of economic freedom in Hong Kong.

Dr Kui-Wai Li lectures on the Asia Pacific economies, including the China economy and specializes in the areas of financial and economic development, industry and trade, political economy and globalization. His research focuses on China, Asian economies including Hong Kong, financial crisis and globalization. He has published a number of referee articles and has contributed chapters to edited books. He is the author of "Economic Freedom: Lessons of Hong Kong (World Scientific, 2012), "The Hong Kong Economy: From Recovery to Restructure" (McGraw Hill Educational, 2006), "Capitalist Development and Economism in East Asia: The Rise of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea" (Routledge, 2002), "Financial Repression and Economic Reform in China" (Praeger, 1994), and edited "Financing China Trade and Investment (Praeger, 1997). Dr Li has worked as a consultant to international institutions, foreign governments and business, and has regularly been interviewed by local and foreign press, radio and television on Hong Kong, Mainland China and foreign issues. He served as the Visiting Fellow at the Economic Growth Center, Yale University, and attended an executive program at Harvard University in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

During his sabbatical months in 2010-2011, he taught a course in the Department of Political Economy, University of Geneva and Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University in Lithuania, and visited the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, and the Center for the International Research on the Japanese economy, University of Tokyo. Dr Li has secured a research grant from the Swiss Network for International Studies during his visit to University of Geneva.