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Hong Kong Is Still The Best, China Must Do Better

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  • Hong Kong Is Still The Best, China Must Do Better

    Hong Kong Is Still The Best, China Must Do Better
    Jan. 12 2011 - 7:40 am | 119 views | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
    By ROBERT OLSEN
    Banking District

    Hong Kong Is Still The Best, China Must Do Better - Robert Olsen - Asian Values - Forbes

    Hong Kong retained its crown as the world’s freest economy for the 17th straight year in rankings released by The Heritage Foundation on Wednesday.

    The Washington-based think tank praised the city for its minimal level of business regulation, low tax rate, openness to investment and protection of property rights.

    Nipping at Hong Kong’s heels, as always, is the city’s longtime regional rival, Singapore. The Lion City improved its rating to 87.2, just below Hong Kong’s score of 89.7. The global average rose to 59.7 this year.

    Hong Kong and Singapore, incidentally, also share the less flattering distinction of having previously been dubbed as tax havens by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

    The Heritage Foundation, on the other hand, says an economy simply can’t have too much freedom, irrespective of the financial crisis. The president and CEO of the conservative research group, Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, said he was “very much concerned about the new regulations that will further constrain and restrict the private sector in the United States.”

    The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, which is a joint project of The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, ranked 183 countries based on 10 measures that evaluate such things as openness to trade and investment, government size, fiscal soundness, business and labor regulation, property rights, corruption, monetary stability and financial competition and transparency.

    The four top places this year are all held by Asian economies. Australia and New Zealand were ranked third and fourth, respectively. Rounding out the remainder of the top ten are Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the United States and Bahrain.

    Meanwhile, at the lower end of the report’s rankings is China in the 135th position with a score of 52. The country’s weak judicial system, restrictions on capital and investments and state-controlled financial system were the areas where China scored the lowest.
    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

  • #2
    I've got to say, while not directly business per see the time I spent in HK taught me how open and easy it was to get things done there. Interesting too that Aus and NZ are now rightly rated as Asian economies, although in our case very small.
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

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    • #3
      “very much concerned about the new regulations that will further constrain and restrict the private sector in the United States.”
      Does he remember the annihilation that the unregulated market caused, of course not, he was the financial guy, laughing his way to the multi million dollar bonus.

      *#(&*$# #*(#

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      • #4
        Those two might not be related -- there are low tax rate and operational effective and there is government red-tapes.
        “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

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