Industrialisation, Employment and Income Distribution: A Case Study of Hong Kong

First published in 1978. In spite of the wide recognition of Hong Kong’s successful growth record, little is known about the impact that rapid industrialisation has had on income distribution. The transformation of an entrepôt economy into an industrial one has been accompanied by a transition from a labour surplus to a labour shortage economy, which has had a profound influence on the distribution of income by size.

The effect has been channelled through a number of variables such as the c...