[JDShu]

If you make that comparison, I would say Singapore has been a much more successful economy.

Hong Kong is stuck in it's role as a financial center, of which it's competitive advantage is getting eroded. Plus that 'competitive advantage' really boils down to knowing how to speak English and having extremely low wages for a developed economy.

On the other hand, Singapore has successfully transitioned from being a financial center to the technological capital of East Asia. Something that the Hong Kong government desperately wants to do, but continues to fail at. And I am not even going to go into the current political storm.

Hong Kong is probably the more interesting city (I'm biased of course, having lived there for years and consider it my home away from home away from home) but out of the HK-Singapore rivalry, I think Singapore has the upper hand.

/rant

[rdl]

Hong Kong has the "curse" (in the sense of resource curse) of being the "Gateway to China" -- I can't think of anything else a business could do in Hong Kong which is of higher value and return than that. It'll crowd out any other rational productive economic activity.