The housing ladder and Hong Kong housing market\u27s boom and bust cycle

This paper presents evidence, based on the recent Hong Kong experience, for the existence of a “housing ladder effect.” An increase of housing equity at the bottom of the ladder tends to translate into a trading up activity that will both increase housing market turnover and buoy up the entire housing market. Based on a natural experiment through the introduction of a public housing privatization scheme, this papers presents evidence supporting this story using a logit model and a price-volume causality test

Privatization of public housing : did it cause the 1998 recession in Hong Kong?

This paper finds evidence that a public housing privatization program produced adverse effects on housing transactions and the economy in Hong Kong. A scheme announced in December 1997, offering tenants an opportunity to buy their units at deeply discounted prices, reduced public housing tenants’ bids for private homes and adversely affected home transactions. This effect is more pronounced than the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis. An effect on housing prices is also indirectly demonstrated though a demonstration that a structural break in the housing price relationship occurred at the time the privatization program is introduced. Declines in housing prices further eroded employment and set off a vicious circle

The nexus between housing and the macro economy : Hong Kong as a case study

This paper presents the theory and the evidence showing the close relationship between the performance of the macroeconomy and housing. Focusing on the Hong Kong experience, it is found that exports and the interest rate were two key variables that can explain the movement of housing prices over a long period. A structural break is identified in the first quarter of 1998. Using the cointegration framework, the paper highlights the importance of housing to both the economic health of the domestic sector and the fiscal health of the economy

The effect of trade on wage inequality : the Hong Kong case

The dramatic increase in the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers observed in many developed countries has received much attention from economists in recent years. A similar rise of wage gap has now been observed for some newly developed economies, such as Hong Kong. However, few empirical studies have been carried out to explain the growing wage gap in these newly developed economies. This study uses the time series data to investigate the impact of increased outward processing trade with the Chinese Mainland on the wage inequality of Hong Kong. We found that there is a significant positive association between the volume of outward processing trade and the wage premium of university graduates over primary school graduates and university graduates over secondary school graduates. Moreover, our econometric analysis also shows that it is the increased outward processing trade that causes the widening of skill wage gap not vice versa. Furthermore, the increase of outward processing trade both increases the pay for well-educated people and at the same time decreases the pay for less well-educated people, thereby widening the wage gap in Hong Kong

A long memory model with mixed normal GARCH for US inflation data

We introduce a time series model that captures both long memory and conditional heteroskedasticity and assess its ability to describe the US inflation data. Specifically, the model allows for long memory in the conditional mean formulation and uses a normal mixture GARCH process to characterize conditional heteroskedasticity. We find that the proposed model yields a good description of the salient features, including skewness and heteroskedasticity, of the US inflation data. Further, the performance of the proposed model compares quite favorably with, for example, ARMA and ARFIMA models with GARCH errors characterized by normal, symmetric and skewed Student-t distributions

Validation and application of health utilities index in Chinese subjects with down syndrome

Objectives: The objectives of the study were (1) to validate the Chinese version of Health Utilities Index (HUI-Ch); (2) to examine the Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of Chinese subjects with Down syndrome (DS); and (3) to study the impact of chronic health conditions on HRQoL of Chinese with DS. Methods: The multiple choice questionnaire for scoring Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI2) and Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) was translated and validated. In addition to the HRQoL scores from HUI2 and HUI3, proxy-data on socio-demographics, and 10 common chronic health conditions for people with DS were collected and analyzed. Data analysis involves multiple imputation and multiple regression analysis to predict variations in HRQoL in relation to different factors. Lastly, a gradient interval was constructed on the number of chronic health conditions in relation to HRQoL. Results: HUI-Ch was validated according to standard guidelines. People with DS were found to have a lower HRQoL as compared to the general population, with the majority categorized as moderate or severe on the scale. Behavioral and hearing problems on HUI2, and hearing problems on HUI3 were found to be statistically significant predictors of a lower HRQoL score. A significant gradient relationship existed showing when the number of health problems increased, the HRQoL scores decreased. Conclusions: HUI-Ch is a valid instrument to assess HRQoL. It can have broad application in Chinese subjects with DS including the study of the impact of different chronic health conditions on their quality of life. The quantifiable nature of HUI-Ch will facilitate longitudinal study on the well-being of subjects with DS and evaluation of effectiveness of intervention programs in the near future

A Comparison Between Chinese Children Infected with Coronavirus Disease-2019 and with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2003

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical and laboratory features of severe acute respiratory syndrome 2003 (SARS) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in two Chinese pediatric cohorts, given that the causative pathogens and are biologically similar. , STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study reviewing paediatric patients with SARS (n = 43) and COVID-19 (n=244) who were admitted to the Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong and Wuhan Children's Hospital in Wuhan, respectively. Demographics, hospital length of stay, clinical and laboratory features were compared RESULTS: Overall, 97.7% of patients with SARS and 85.2% of patients with COVID-19 had epidemiological associations with known cases. Significantly more patients with SARS developed fever, chills, myalgia, malaise, coryza, sore throat, sputum production, nausea, headache, and dizziness than patients COVID-19. No SARS patients were asymptomatic at the time of admission. 29.1% and 20.9% COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic on admission and throughout their hospital stay, respectively. More SARS patients required oxygen supplementation than COVID-19 patients (18.6 vs. 4.7%, P = 004). Only 1.6% COVID-19 and 2.3% SARS patients required mechanical ventilation. Leukopenia (37.2% vs. 18.6%, p=0.008), lymphopenia (95.4% versus 32.6%, p<0.01), and thrombocytopenia (41.9% vs 3.8%, p<0.001) were significantly more common in SARS than COVID-19 patients. The duration between positive and negative nasopharyngeal aspirate and the length in hospital stay were similar in COVID-19 patients regardless of whether they were asymptomatic or symptomatic, suggesting a similar duration of viral shedding. CONCLUSIONS: Children with COVID-19 were less symptomatic and had more favorable hematological findings than children with SARS