Events

The “One Hour for Young Talents” Winter 2024 Workshop will be jointly organized by the China Public Administration Review (C-PAR), along with the Institute for Public Policy and the Division of Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Over the past decade, the financial services industry has undergone serious disruption on account of new age technologies, witnessing steep rise in unconventional applications arising from internet usage and artificial intelligence (such as mobile payments and digital banking, big-data solutions, block-chain and digital currency). Regulation, it is maintained always trails behind innovation which then begs the question, do such market developments shock the regulatory system, widen the gap between the innovator and regulator and the capacity shortfalls impair governance?

Following the establishment of a new political order after the 2019 unrest, the Central Government expects Hong Kong to enter an era of good governance focusing on economic development and quality of life to bring ‘happiness’ (幸福感) to the wider population. Enhancing governance capability and governance efficacy has since been a persistent goal of the SAR government. How has the government fared so far? This session examines some controversial issues to assess policy delivery, including solid waste disposal charging, online car hailing, and mega events.

The concept of money illusion, once largely dismissed by mainstream economics, has regained prominence through recent developments in behavioral economics. It affects a wide range of markets, including financial, housing, labor, and consumption markets, as well as overall ability of firms to coordinate its prices in markets with significant repercussions. Despite several efforts by central banks and other institutions to raise economic literacy, money illusion persists, influencing decision-making in ways that challenge the assumptions of rational expectations. This research leverages experimental economics to investigate whether economic education can reduce the direct and especially indirect effects of money illusion. Recent studies, including those by Fehr and Tyran (2001), have demonstrated how money illusion can amplify coordination failures and cause long-lasting deviations from economic equilibrium, particularly in response to monetary shocks. In our research we go even further and examine whether economic literacy under certain conditions mitigates this phenomenon. Our results can bring more light into whether well-educated individuals are subject to money illusion and whether they struggle to coordinate effectively in an environment of nominal rigidities or not. These findings could either confirm or refute predictions of New Keynesian models, particularly regarding the short-run nonneutrality of money, are reinforced by the persistence of money illusion. Furthermore, the presence of money illusion in multiple markets contributes to a broader, aggregate-level intensification of economic challenges, suggesting that its impact remains substantial despite increasing efforts to educate the public.

What drives governments to compete for talent? What are the impacts of highly skilled immigration policies on people's attitudes toward immigrants? In recent years, mainland Chinese cities and Hong Kong have engaged in fierce competition for talent.
In addition to relaxing residency requirements, many governments also offer generous financial and welfare incentives. This talk will explore the underlying factors behind this competition, describe policy variations between cities, and examine how these initiatives shape natives' perceptions of migrants. I will discuss the significance of these questions and share findings from my ongoing research on the subject

Industry 4.0 and 5.0 present comprehensive and complex challenges in the workplace, necessitating policy interventions to guide, protect, and encourage frontline service workers and their skill formation in new forms of work. Informed by this requirement, this research proposes a processual approach to understanding skill changes driven by Industry 4.0 and 5.0 and establishing a robust foundation of skill-related policies. The processual approach conceptualizes work as a series of events in which workers and/or technologies make judgments and take actions to move the process forward. Through inductive theorization, it investigates whether and how technologies impact the judgments or actions made by workers in each event.

A seminar and discussion covering the rudiments and finer points of publishing peer-reviewed journal articles.

The two universities cooperate again to host The Policy Dialogue Series which began in 2018-19 and is now in its seventh annual series. Professor Anthony Cheung and Professor Lui Tai-lok will be joined by other speakers in the relevant fields to explore some critical issues and public policy challenges facing Hong Kong. The Policy Dialogue Series is interactive and encourages the participation of the HKUST and EdUHK communities as well as members of the public who are concerned about Hong Kong’s future.

Investment and consumption in Hong Kong’s economy have not fully recovered as expected post-COVID. Some blame it on the city’s political situation as well as the economic troubles on the mainland. Pessimists warn that Hong Kong’s long-cherished East-West intermediary role is over amid the changing geopolitics. Just rebutting such doomsday talk is not enough. At this critical juncture, Hong Kong needs more actions in re-strategizing and repositioning to secure an economic reset and restore its international impact.

In this talk, Adam Liu will highlight the key takeaways of his current book project, tentatively titled “Authoritarian Markets: The Boom and Busts of China’s Local State Banks.” In a nutshell, using the case of Chinese banking, he argues that “limited government” or “good governance”—the conventional wisdom of the political economy literature—were never the foundations of markets in the party-state; elite bargaining and bureaucratic mobilizations were. They help explain both the mirage of prosperity in the past several decades as well as the deluge of economic challenges the country faces now: the two foundations have both withered.

The relationship between science and policy is crucial for shaping society’s well-being, as policy decisions are significantly influenced by high-impact papers. However, the factors driving policy citations of academic papers remain unclear despite extensive research on paper citations. In this study, we examined the citation patterns between 230,000 papers and intergovernmental organizations' policy documents published after 2015, finding notable differences in policy citation rates across countries. These variations are influenced by factors such as publishing journals, proximity to policy, and the authors’ previous policy citations. Highly-cited authors often play a dominant role in certain fields, forming influential networks, particularly in areas like climate change. Our findings provide insights into the mechanisms underlying the integration of scientific knowledge into policymaking.

Physicians play a crucial role in the healthcare market. As key providers of healthcare services and the primary point of contact with patients, physicians’ behavior can directly influence the quantity, quality, and cost of healthcare services. This dissertation consists of three essays that study the economics of physician behavior. Specifically, I investigate how patient violence, medical malpractice litigation, and the legalization of physician multi-site practice affect the decision-making of physicians in China.

The transition of energy infrastructure is crucial to achieve the carbon neutrality goal. This talk will focus on global fossil fuel power plants and leverage examples of Chinese overseas energy investments. By analysing the role of clean technology in mitigating the risk of stranded power assets and exploring the impact of cofinancing on infrastructure projects, this talk will discuss how to use clean technology to achieve a 'soft landing’ for carbon-heavy assets and strengthen the collaboration among energy financiers to achieve sustainable development of energy infrastructure.

The two universities cooperate again to host The Policy Dialogue Series which began in 2018-19 and is now in its sixth annual series. Professor Anthony Cheung and Professor Lui Tai-lok will be joined by other speakers in the relevant fields to explore some critical issues and public policy challenges facing Hong Kong. The Policy Dialogue Series is interactive and encourages the participation of the EdUHK and HKUST communities as well as members of the public who are concerned about Hong Kong’s future.

The HKUST Inter-University Public Policy Case Competition is a flagship event at the Division of Public Policy of HKUST. The Competition aims to provide students with an opportunity to analyze pressing public policy issues and recommend practical solutions to policy makers. The inaugural session was successfully launched in Spring 2019, followed by the second session in Spring 2021. After years of the pandemic, the third session of the Competition will be hosted on the HKUST Clear Water Bay campus in Spring 2024.

Despite frequent reiteration by China’s leaders that ‘one country, two systems’ is to persist, cynicism and conspiracy theories abound. Optimists expect the new-era Patriots Administration to restore stability and prosperity. Yet sceptics wonder if the city still enjoys a high degree of autonomy and political freedom. Some even perceive the city as going downhill compared to the mainland. The central government clearly expects Hong Kong to continue to be ‘special’ and different from mainland cities. Under the changing local and national circumstances, as well as the impact of worsening global geopolitics, can Hong Kong maintain its distinctiveness and purposefulness? How can the once vibrant and self-confident metropolis be reinvigorated?

The workshop on Energy and Climate Diplomacy aims to provide a better understanding of Energy and Climate Diplomacy. Both fields have emerged as crucial components of contemporary international relations. Energy Policy in particular represents a vital aspect of diplomatic strategies as addressing issues of energy security is indispensable for national security and economy. In light of the evolving geopolitical landscape shaped by the energy transition, the workshop will also look into Climate Diplomacy, with a focus on the EU Green Deal.

Upon the implementation of the National Security Law and enhancement of the electoral system, Hong Kong has entered a new phase of “Patriots Administration”. Chief Executive John Lee proclaimed in his 2022 inaugural Policy Address that Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to order and is now at the crucial stage of advancing from stability to prosperity.  The new order has brought about notable changes in the spheres of politics, administration and civil society, expected to deliver better governance systems, governance capability and governance efficacy, so that “our people [...] have a sense of gain and a real taste of the fruits of effective governance” as promised by Mr. Lee. To what extent has such a goal been borne out by public policy performance and results?

Empirical studies often assume a (generalized) linear relationship between variables.  However, scholars need to diagnose this assumption before interpreting modeling results.  If the true relationship between variables is nonlinear, the linear assumption will lead to a biased estimate of the relationship.  This presentation emphasizes the charm of machine learning approaches in address the nonlinear relationships between variables in the context of land use and travel behavior.  The case studies show that the applications of machine learning may change the conventional understanding of land use-transportation interactions and inform urban and transportation planners of efficient solutions to address transportation-related challenges.  The approaches enable scholars and practitioners to revisit previous questions from an innovative perspective.    

Hong Kong used to be a major gateway to China and an intermediary between China and the world particularly the West. However, the world has now changed. Intense US-China rivalry, regional conflicts and anti-globalisation sentiments are defining the new normal. Also, China has transited from an era of reforms through opening to Western markets and methods to the present new era of the Chinese path to modernization. After 2019 China has taken national security as a priority in the city while the doubtful West now sees it as a system less separate from the mainland.  Hong Kong seems caught in a dilemma and risks losing its strategic distinctness and connectedness. Can it reinvent its intermediary role in a more complex and polarized world?