Sir John Cowperthwaite who was Financial Secretary from 1961-1971 has just passed away. I don’t know of his achievements first hand or his exact philosophy, but he is credited with laying the foundation for Hong Kong’s free market economy. This includes eliminating import and export duties and introducing a flat tax rate. (Unfortunately his hard work in keeping Hong Kong’s economy free is now being undone.)
The SCMP notes that he was quoted as saying that he did very little – I take that to mean he just did not let government do that much. At the same time the paper notes he did not like the idea of the government collecting statistics. He thought that people would try to use them and that was not a good idea.
Imagine what Hong Kong would be like if he had not been the Financial Secretary. Would there still have been a free market economy during the last 40 yearsor would Hong Kong have stagnated like so many tinpot economies in this area?
