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Government has role to play, even in a free market

Hong Kong’s next administration must lead the way to enable a new generation to meet the challenges of the 21st century

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Despite being dubbed the “freest economy” in the world, much needs to be done to spread Hong Kong’s wealth more evenly and narrow the wealth gap. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong has once again been ranked the world’s freest economy by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation for the 23rd consecutive year. In the past, such a distinction would have government officials and business leaders uncorking champagne. Nowadays, though, it’s greeted with scepticism. More and more people think governments have a role to play in promoting growth, even in a free port such as Hong Kong. Certainly officials in recent years have not been shy about being more interventionist – or what they prefer to call “market-enabling”.
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The real question is how to strike a balance for the government to play a constructive role in encouraging innovation and growth, something that many of our neighbours such as Singapore have done with varying degrees of success.

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