Jake's ViewThe economy grows, but we’re still going to be stuck with expensive housing and bad traffic
Growth hasn’t improved our sense of well-being, and there doesn’t seem to be much the government can do about it
Fifteen years of economic growth in Hong Kong have failed to improve people’s well-being, according to a study by one of the city’s leading think tanks... Housing and transport were the two greatest factors affecting people’s quality of life.
SCMP, October 19
I have two immediate quibbles with this Bauhinia Well-being Index (BWI)from the Bauhinia Foundation, aside from the fact that I think greater well-being is still conferred by the Caribbean equivalent, BVI.
The first quibble is that everyone is doing social survey studies these days. It’s the cheap avenue to publicity. But such surveys rarely produce findings that conflict with the political viewpoints of their sponsors. In fact they never do.
There are no standard measures of well-being. The people who do these things just make up their own toolboxes and then try to convince others that they have the best tools available. I’m sure that this BWI study is a legitimate effort but there are thousands of its kind and they don’t all agree.
My second quibble is the common misperception that the Hong Kong economy is so governed by obsession with property that other activities are crowded out.