1. Comment.
- Author
-
Barro, Robert J.
- Subjects
ECONOMIC development ,INTERNATIONAL trade ,INVESTMENTS - Abstract
This article presents the author's comments on the paper A Tale of Two Cities: Factor Accumulation and Technical Change in Hong Kong and Singapore, by Alwyn Young. The economies of Hong Kong, China and Singapore show similarities and differences. The economies of the two countries are highly open to international trade and have remarkably high ratios of exports and imports to gross domestic product (GDP). Both countries have been peaceful and politically stable for some time, although Singapore had difficulties in the 1960s and Hong Kong's prospects for 1997 are uncertain. They are nearly identical in age-adjusted fertility and mortality rates, although Hong Kong has somewhat higher average population growth because of great in-migration. Sharp contrasts show up for investment rates, the related behavior of consumption, the current-account balance, direct foreign investment and the role of government. Hong Kong's ratio of real gross investment to real GDP from 1960 to 1985 has been reasonably stable at around 21 percent. Singapore, in contrast, began at about 13 percent in the early 1960s, reached 21 percent between 1965 and 1969, and then soared to an average of 37 percent from 1970 to 1985.
- Published
- 1992