Poverty in the Midst of Affluence

How Hong Kong Mismanaged Its Prosperity, Revised Edition

Leo F. Goodstadt

• Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9789888313136
• Subtopic: Economic Policy
• Index: Social Sciences

Hong Kong is among the richest cities in the world. Yet over the past 15 years, living conditions for the average family have deteriorated despite a robust economy, ample budget surpluses, and record labour productivity. Successive governments have been reluctant to invest in services for the elderly, the disabled, the long-term sick, and the poor, while education has become more elitist. The political system has helped to entrench a mistaken consensus that social spending is a threat to financial stability and economic prosperity. In this trenchant attack on government mismanagement, Leo Goodstadt traces how officials have created a 'new poverty' in Hong Kong and argues that their misguided policies are both a legacy of the colonial era and a deliberate choice by modern governments, and not the result of economic crises. This provocative book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand why poverty returned to Hong Kong in this century. The book has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new, paperback edition.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Book Synopsis
• Author Biography
• Endorsements
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: Pain, Panic and Poverty
• 1 Crisis Economics: Private Profits, Public Pain
• 2 The Business of Government: Less Politics, No Welfare
• 3 Housing: Unending Crisis
• 4 Social Reforms: Too Little, Too Late
• 5 Social Reforms: The New Poverty
• 6 The Undeserving Poor
• 7 An Absence of Advocates: How the 'Welfare' Lobby Lost Its Voice
• Conclusions: History Repeats Itself
• Bibliography
• Index