Abstract
Hong Kong is highly unequal. In this chapter, we first show that wealth and inequality are structured by a political economy centring on small government and real estate profits. The underlying urban development model contains urbanisation, while restricting access to land to a small group that is fabulously rich. Next, we discern three reasons for the initial acceptance of this political economy: a mixed coalition reached sustained agreement on core policies; an ideology ‘sold’ these policies to the larger public; and social welfare policies redistributed benefits. Third, we argue that this support has now disappeared, because the government has been reluctant to face the consequences of domestic and foreign real estate investments for the non-rich. Unfortunately, a new social contract seems out of reach in the current political climate.
The work described in this chapter was supported by a grant from the ESRC/RGC Joint Research Scheme sponsored by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the Economic and Social Research Council in the United Kingdom (Project reference no: ES/K010263/1).
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Notes
- 1.
On the 2015 Forbes World Billionaires list, Li Ka-shing ranked 17th (first in Hong Kong), Lee Shau-kee 27th (second in Hong Kong), Lui Che-woo 82nd (fifth in Hong Kong), Robert Kuok 110th (first in Malaysia), and Peter Woo and family 153th (eighth in Hong Kong).
- 2.
The Asian Barometer Project (2005–2008 and 2010–2012) is co-directed by Professors Fu Hu and Yun-han Chu. It received financial support from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University. The Asian Barometer Project Office (www.asianbarometer.org) is solely responsible for the data distribution. We appreciate the assistance in providing data by the institutes and individuals aforementioned. The views expressed herein are our own.
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Wissink, B., Koh, S.Y., Forrest, R. (2017). Tycoon City: Political Economy, Real Estate and the Super-Rich in Hong Kong. In: Forrest, R., Koh, S., Wissink, B. (eds) Cities and the Super-Rich. The Contemporary City. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54834-4_12
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