Positive non-interventionism ( zh, 積極不干預) was the

economic policy ''Economic Policy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press, Oxford Academic on behalf of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich), and the Paris Scho ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

; this policy can be traced back to the time when Hong Kong was under

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rule. It was first officially implemented in 1971 by Financial Secretary of Hong Kong John Cowperthwaite, who believed that the economy was doing well in the absence of

government intervention A market intervention is a policy or measure that modifies or interferes with a market, typically done in the form of state action, but also by philanthropic and political-action groups. Market interventions can be done for a number of reas ...

but that it was important to create the regulatory and physical infrastructure to facilitate

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

-based decision making. The policy was continued by subsequent Financial Secretaries, including Sir Philip Haddon-Cave. Economist

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

has cited it as a fairly comprehensive implementation of

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( , from , ) is a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). As a system of thought, ''laissez-faire'' ...

policy. Financial Secretaries

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

Antony Leung Antony Leung Kam-chung GBS OBE JP (born 29 January 1952 in Hong Kong with family roots in Shunde, Guangdong) is a businessman who served as Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), from 29 May 2001 unti ...

Henry Tang Henry Tang Ying-yen (; born 6 September 1952) is a Hong Kong politician who served as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong between 2007 and 2011. He held the position of Financial Secretary from 2003 to 2007. In 2012, he lost the Hong Kong Chief ...

and John Tsang all defended the minimal intervention approach.

First-hand explanation

According to Cowperthwaite:

In the long run, the aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising individual judgment in a free economy, even if often mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralised decisions of a government; and certainly the harm is likely to be counteracted faster.Official Report of Proceedings of the Hong Kong Legislative Council
(March 24–25, 1966) p. 216

According to Haddon-Cave:

positive non-interventionism involves taking the view that it is normally futile and damaging to the growth rate of an economy, particularly an
open economy An open economy refers to an economy in which both domestic and international entities participate in the trade of goods and services. This type of economy allows for the exchange of products, including technology transfers and managerial experti ...
, for the Government to attempt to plan the allocation of resources available to the
private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...
and to frustrate the operation of market forces.

Haddon-Cave goes on to say that the "positive" part means the government carefully considers each possible intervention to determine "where the advantage" lies, and, although usually it will come to the conclusion that the intervention is harmful, sometimes it will decide to intervene.

References

External links

Big Market, Small Government
by Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong {{Economy of Hong Kong navbox Economic ideologies Economy of Hong Kong Capitalism

First-hand explanation

See also

References

External links