After arriving from a very smooth 7 hour flight from Perth, I found myself in the center of one of the world’s most dynamic and fast-paced economies, Hong Kong.
For a total landmass of only 1,104 square kilometers and a population of over 7 million people, my trip from the airport to my apartment in Sheung Wan was surprisingly efficient – as I soon learnt is the norm here. Everything, from catching the MTR (mass transit railway) to eating lunch is done with absolute precision and no time is wasted, making me realise that a lot of the credit for Hong Kong’s success goes to not only its policy makers, but to the insatiable collective drive of its people.
My first week in the Lion Rock office has been rather busy as myself and the Lion Rock team began to finish editing and finalizing the Institute’s latest issue of Best Practice, a public policy journal for Hong Kong that advocates a strong free-market based approach to policy issues. This issue has writings from 19thCentury French economist Frederic Bastiat and some more modern day musings from Bill Stacey, chairman of Lion Rock, and Neville Kennard of Kennard’s hire and self-storage, so it makes for quite an interesting read. I have also begun research on an article for Best Practice’s next issue, which will be based on the Competition Law Bill that has been hotly debated for the last several years and has just been accepted by the government. It will be interesting to see the ramifications on the business environment here should it be made into law early next year.
I have also had the chance to see a lot of Hong Kong outside of work thanks to the lovely Ines from Lion Rock who has shown me around both the Island and Kowloon, most notably the infamous shopping malls that seem never ending. I was also able to visit the Peak, the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island, which was breathtaking.
This week I will be working more on the article and liaising with the new editor of the journal to ensure everything is running smoothly for the next issue.
