Hong Kong
Hong Kong practices relatively
laissez-faire policies.
described
Hong Kong as a
laissez-faire state and he credits that policy for the rapid move from poverty to prosperity in 50 years.
[36] Hong Kong's GDP grew under British colonial control between 1897 and 1997, while possessing central banking, school regulations, environmental regulations and government ownership of housing — all examples of economic intervention.
[37] These regulations were however light in comparison to many other countries, and in terms of economic regulation Friedman's analysis of Hong Kong as a 'laissez-faire' state seems justified: Hong Kong has no capital gains tax, no interest tax, no sales tax and only a 15% flat income tax. It also has no tariffs or other legal restrictions on international free trade, no minimum wage laws (until 2010), and no price or wage controls. Further it extends no unemployment benefits, enacts no labour legislation, provides no social security and no national health insurance.
[38]
A 1994
World Bank report stated that Hong Kong's GDP per capita grew in real terms at an annual rate of 6.5% from 1965 to 1989, a consistent growth percentage over a span of almost 25 years
[39] By 1990 Hong Kong's
per capita income officially surpassed that of the ruling United Kingdom.
[40] In 1960 the average per capita income in Hong Kong was 28% of that in Great Britain; by 1996, it had risen to 137% of that in Britain.
[41]
Since 1995 Hong Kong has been ranked as having the world's most liberal capital markets by the
Heritage Foundation and
Wall Street Journal.
[42] The
Fraser Institute concurred in 2007.
[43]
