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Category: Societal Issues
Date Submitted: 11/01/2012 06:11 PM
Causes of Widening Wealth Gap In Hong Kong
Yeung Chi Kit
GE 1401 University English T04
MCGETTIGAN ,Jane Elizabeth
5 October 2011
p.1
In Hong Kong, It is often easier to see the wealth gap here, with all the big
shopping malls and the public house estates that stand in great numbers.
In fact, rising income inequality has been a common feature of most developed
countries, and Hong Kong is no exception.
According to The Hong Kong Council of Social Service’s Study, which was
conducted in 2009 , the median monthly income of high income households has
been dramatically increased by 150% from HK$13000 to HK$32600 in the period
of1989 to 2009. In the contrast, the median monthly income of low income
households has only slightly increased from HK$5000 to HK$9000(80%) in the
same period. These figures have clearly shown that the wealth gap between the
rich and the poor in Hong Kong has been widening. There are a variety of factors
contributing to the widening wealth gap between the rich and the poor in Hong
Kong. Two main factors will be focused on this essay: economic transition and
ineffectiveness of government policy.
First of all, the widening wealth gap is related to economic transition.
Riskin, Zhao and Li(2001)observe that “economic growth itself in its early stages
is likely to give rise to increasing inequality, because growth tends to occur in a
manner that is geographically and sectorally unbalanced”(p.8). Since the Hong
Kong’s economic structure has shifted from manufacturing to the knowledge
based economy, high-educated manpower is demanded. Businessmen,
professionals and managers who are high educated are then able to leverage their
knowledge and talent into their respective aspect to develop their own careers in
Hong Kong. As a result, they are able to have a foreseeable sparkling career future
and...