People

去年2月，筆者在本專欄撰文，剖析新冠肺炎疫情之後出現的東滯西脹現象。一年半之後的今天，西脹回落，東滯猶在。本月9日，中國經濟運行的統計數據公布，7月份消費價格指數比去年同期下降0.3%，出現了自2021年2月以來的首次按年負增長；不僅如此，生產價格指數的按年跌幅為4.4%，延續6月的下降趨勢。

香港正鬧人才荒已經是不爭的事實。根據大型求職網站JobsDB最新發布的《2023年招聘、薪酬及福利調查報告》，有68%受訪企業表示招聘困難，而60%僱主指出填補職位不易，因為「難以招聘合適人才」。特區政府也不再猶抱琵琶半遮面，坦言人才缺口不容忽視。

As the gig economy grows, companies need to adapt to a changed incentives landscape.

筆者兩個月前在本欄撰文〈香江失健筆，本港缺奇才〉，論及香港文藝界花果飄零，創意行業難以振興。一些朋友頗有微詞，責怪筆者沒由來的悲觀。過去兩月，各種藝術節、文化節、展覽會、音樂會接踵而至，乃至五一黃金周前的美食市集、全港戲院日，無不四處人頭湧動，足見本地文藝文化產業活力十足。筆者自問：錯否，錯否？繁花似錦，卻道綠肥紅瘦！

筆者兩個月前在本欄撰文〈香江失健筆，本港缺奇才〉，論及香港文藝界花果飄零，創意行業難以振興。一些朋友頗有微詞，責怪筆者沒由來的悲觀。過去兩月，各種藝術節、文化節、展覽會、音樂會接踵而至，乃至五一黃金周前的美食市集、全港戲院日，無不四處人頭湧動，足見本地文藝文化產業活力十足。筆者自問：錯否，錯否？繁花似錦，卻道綠肥紅瘦！

上周末，幾位朋友談起文壇現狀，大嘆香港連失健筆，人才凋零。去年年中倪匡仙逝，年底走了西西，今年年初劉紹銘過身；加上老病的、封筆的、歸隱的、出走的，昔日風流，盡被雨打風吹去。

上周末，幾位朋友談起文壇現狀，大嘆香港連失健筆，人才凋零。去年年中倪匡仙逝，年底走了西西，今年年初劉紹銘過身；加上老病的、封筆的、歸隱的、出走的，昔日風流，盡被雨打風吹去。

A growing number of people today are participating in the gig economy, working as independent contractors on short-term projects. We study the effects of competition on gig workers’ effort and creativity on a Chinese novel-writing platform. Authors produce and sell their works chapter by chapter under a revenue-sharing or pay-by-the-word contract with the platform. Exploiting a regulation that induced a massive entry of novels in the romance genre but not other genres, we find that, on average, intensified competition led authors to produce content more quickly, whereas its effect on book novelty was weak. However, revenue-sharing books responded to competition substantially more than pay-by-the-word books, particularly regarding novelty. Moreover, the effect of competition on novelty is considerably stronger for books at earlier stages of the product life cycle. Finally, the platform increased the promotion of contracted books, which disproportionately favored pay-by-the-word books. We discuss the implications of these results for creative workers, platform firms, and policy makers in the gig economy.

日前，港大經管學院召集對經濟政策研究感興趣的學者，為香港的經濟未來出謀劃策。筆者和同事鄧希煒教授主動請纓，研究香港如何創造更多優質工作這一課題。