Current Research

Hello readers,

Like I promised, today I will be sharing some of the research I have gathered so far.

I first wanted to focus on the macroeconomics side of the project. Looking at GDP, growth rates, immigration, saving's rates, etc. By getting a clearer understanding of what is occurring in economy since the transition, I can build a foundation of reasoning for my future research. Also, at the same time, I can use this knowledge to what I should be focusing on when I transition to researching on the middle class.

So what have I learned? Let's start with the go-to-numbers when economists want to analyze a market: the GDP. Hong Kong's GDP has (since 1966) always been growing, except for two separate years: 1998 and 2009. The decrease in 2009, where Hong Kong's GDP fell by -2.5% can most likely be attributed to the housing collapse started in the US, something Hong Kong had little control over, so I will be mostly excluding it from most of my final calculations. Meanwhile, the -6% drop in 1998 was the year right after Hong Kong's transition.

This is a really exciting find. Not only does it validate my thesis in a way, it also shows the massive trauma Hong Kong suffered. Now, to be fair, not all of this was due to the transition since all of Asia was going through a downturn at the time.

Besides the GDP though, I want research that's not completely numbers. On that end, I looked at the UN Human Development index. Now, what is this index? Well, to be blunt, it takes numbers and translates them into societal markers. It looks at stats like life expectancy, and figures out an output for the health, education, and living standards of that country. It is similar to GDP in some ways, but can vary widely from it. For example, Hong Kong is ranked at .898 (fairly good!) while it's Gross National Income per capita (average income) is at $45,000. Now Lichenstein has a rating of .905 HDI, but its GNI per capita is over $83,700. So, in terms of markers like GDP per capita and GNI per capita, Hong Kong and Lichenstein might be widely different, but their HDI are remarkably similar. The UN Human Development Index will allow me to look past the economic side, and really find what out what is happening on the societal side.

Hope you guys learned something today, I will be doing bi-weekly updates so make sure to check back soon!
- Victor