What's the difference between free market and oligopoly capitalism? Simple - in the first case the market is not rigged and participants tend to favour democracy. In the second, the market is rigged by a small group, who favour crony-style politics with as little democracy as possible. Guess which one is practised in Hong Kong? The property market can give us a few clues. The estate agents advertise apartments by reference to gross floor area (GFA) - that is the space occupied by the actual flat plus its 'share' of things, such as the health club, security office, mail room and even the pillars that hold up the car park. So the actual living space in an 800 sq ft flat might be 500 sq ft. And many of the items included in the GFA are not part of the space the developer pays for. The government 'gives' this space to the developer for free and they can sell it for thousands per square foot. This is a system that creates excessive profit for developers and could only exist in an oligopoly.

The government could make one simple change that might restore some faith in the market - force all real-estate agents to advertise the efficiency rate of every apartment alongside its GFA. A flat would appear in the estate agent's window as, for example, 1,000/80, meaning the property has a GFA of 1,000 sq ft with 80 per cent of that being the actual space inside the apartment. This would bring some transparency (and sanity) to an aspect of Hong Kong living that, more than anything else, proves the city is owned and operated by and for the few.