I recently read a report titled 'How to become a World City'. It was produced by HK Golden 50, one of Hong Kong's many think tanks, founded by a retired well-known fund manager who specialised in property analysis. The group believes that the best 50 years of Hong Kong's history lie ahead, provided our leaders make the right decisions now. With chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying preparing to launch his administration, it makes particularly interesting reading.
The report starts by suggesting that Hong Kong is underachieving. Our average per capita income has lagged behind New York City's and London's. And this is not simply a reflection of the wealth gap; the authors show that those two cities' Gini coefficients, measuring wealth distribution, are similar to ours.
Singapore's nominal per capita gross domestic product grew an amazing 87per cent from 2000 to 2010, compared with Hong Kong's 25per cent. A lot of that is due to foreign exchange rates, but the researchers believe that immigration policy has also made a big difference. Singapore has attracted newcomers equivalent to 15per cent of its 2004 population, 75per cent of them young and college-educated. Hong Kong, at the same time, took in a roughly similar number - but mainly from the mainland, and only 7.9per cent of those of working age have post-secondary education.
This is a sensitive subject. Many of our immigrants come here to be reunited with families, and it is offensive to discuss their 'quality' as if they are livestock. It also raises the subject of race. Singapore is racially more mixed than Hong Kong, while many people here, according to a recent local survey, have shockingly racist attitudes towards South and Southeast Asians - who comprise much of Singapore's new talent.
The new chief executive needs to provide leadership on this issue. If we are to remain competitive, what sort of people, if any, do we need to attract and where should they come from? There will not be a consensus, but it must be possible to define what is in our overall interests; the report urges opening the door to more diverse sources of talent.
Such talent must want to come. It is a cliche to say that Hong Kong gets the infrastructure and institutions right but has not worked hard enough on its lifestyle software. This covers things like air pollution, availability of international education, shortfalls in medical capacity and the promotion of cosmopolitan arts and culture scenes. In this last area, we do quite well, but the others are real problems.