People

繼《2016年施政報告》提出香港「再工業化」計劃，創新科技局翌年成立創新、科技及再工業化委員會。至今香港工業化進展不大，市民對再工業化前景與政府的政策用心也不太了解。有見及此，筆者最近與香港生產力促進局合作，撰寫《香港再工業化研究》報告，透過企業問卷調查及與業界代表焦點小組討論，以微觀數據分析製造業的當前挑戰，以及利用工業4.0技術升級轉型的潛力與困難，最後分析本港再工業化的可能性與政策期望。

Hong Kong insurers are now eagerly awaiting the border re-opening with the mainland and keen to tap into the growing Greater Bay Area (GBA) market. And while COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation, maintaining the “human touch” is equally important to an industry that is people-oriented and built on trust and integrity.

科技日新月異的今天，香港傳統工業正在默默起革命，在「後疫情」年代，「再工業化」能否應運而生，扭轉香港長期過度倚重金融和地產的格局？本報策劃「香港新工業」系列專題，專訪了多位業界權威及學界精英，他們均對香港「再工業化」寄予厚望，期盼能夠藉此貢獻國家，並為香港經濟注入全新動力。 　中國社會科學院工業經濟研究所研究員李曉華撰文指，製造業曾經在香港經濟崛起中發揮過重要作用，高峰時期工業佔香港地區生產總值的比重超過30%。但是，隨着香港製造業持續外遷，工業生產總值佔比越來越低，2019年香港製造業增加值只有293.66億元，佔地區生產總值的比重下降到1.1%。

中國商務部副部長任鴻斌近日在《“十四五”外貿高質量發展規劃》新聞發布會上表示，將推動內地、香港、澳門共建單一自貿區。就此，有專家指出，有關舉措是向香港、澳門開放內地市場，讓港澳地區充分享受內地市場擴大開放所帶來的紅利，但安全是構建內地、香港、澳門單一自貿區的重要前提。

The Hong Kong government put forth the reindustrialisation initiative in 2016, with the aim of improving Hong Kong's economic structure. However, over the past five years, the manufacturing industry has accounted for only 1% of the Hong Kong's GDP, and Hong Kong's economic development is still struggling to shake off an over-reliance on financial and professional services.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council said on Monday technology companies are eager to manufacture more of their products in the SAR, but they need support to help nurture talent.

We study the global diffusion of culture through multinationals, focusing on gender norms. Using data on manufacturing firms in China from 2004 to 2007, we find that foreign affiliates from countries with a more gender-equal culture tend to employ proportionally more women and appoint more female managers. They also generate cultural spillovers, as we find that domestic firms' female labor share increases with the prevalence of foreign affiliates in the same industry or city. Based on a multi-sector model that accounts for firm heterogeneity in productivity, gender bias, and learning, we perform counterfactual exercises. By hypothetically eliminating firms' gender biases, we observe a 5% increase in China's aggregate total factor productivity, 19% of which is due to spillovers from foreign affiliates.

The making of the Northern Metropolis heralds a reshuffling of Hong Kong’s landscape and economy in the coming years — an ambitious and timely visionary move to optimize the city’s unbalanced economic structure and integrate it into the robust development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, pundits said. In the last Policy Address of her administration’s current tenure, delivered on Oct 6, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor unveiled a blueprint to develop the northern part of Hong Kong into a metropolitan area.

大灣區概念為香港帶來與內地廣東省9市和澳門合作發展的機會，各界認為未來機遇與挑戰並存。機遇方面，貿發局研究總監關家明表示，中國現時經濟發展重點已由量轉質，企業能力和競爭力不斷提升，除了催谷「內循環」，亦要對外接軌，而本港的市場化、國際化和法制優勢，將是協助內地連接及拓展「外循環」的重要環節。