佔領中環人士仍在場對峙

作為全球響應佔領華爾街行動最後的殘餘勢力，佔領中環的成員其實要反省一下為何未能像佔領政總行動般得到香港市民的支持。在被喻為「自由市場模範」的香港，其是否立場是否太左傾？是否有計劃有耐性的向市民解釋其行動理念？

Occupy Central—the Hong Kong version of Occupy Wall Street and one of the last remanents of the movement—is being cleared out today. Its participants should reflect on why it has not gain traction like the concurrent Occupy Central Government Complex movement. Perhaps their position is too left-leaning in the free-market-oriented Hong Kong? Was there a planned and persistent attempt to explain their position to the public?

九東陶君行和人民力量攬住一齊死基本上無可避免：一來勉強說得上是陶君行根據地的就是竹園，出選九東已經是他勝算最高的選擇；二來人力與社民連牙齒印太深，明知選民基礎高度重疊也無法協調出選名單。最可惜就是浪費了黃洋達的人氣，因為他空降得了九東也就有能力空降另一區，和陶君行正面衝突犯不著要他來做。

在港島，民建聯曾鈺成加鍾樹根有70418票，比陳家洛陳淑莊名單的70475票還少卻雙雙當選。在新西，民建聯梁志祥加陳恒鑌有70322票，比郭家麒余若薇名單的72185票少亦雙雙當選。基於兩黨的參選策略孰優孰劣再明顯不過，公民黨實在欠其選民一個道歉，承認合組名單這一策略用錯了。

In the Hong Kong Island Geographical Constituency, DAB’s Jasper Tsang plus Christopher Chung took in a total of 70418 votes, 57 votes fewer than what the Civil Party’s Chan Ka Lok/Tanya Chan list received, yet the former pair were both elected. In the New Territories West GC, DAB’s Leung Che Cheung plus Chan Han Pan took in 70322 votes, over 1800 votes fewer than the CP’s Kowk Kai Ki/Audrey Eu list, yet again the former pair were both elected. CP really owes its voters an apology for adopting the wrong election strategy.

《ATV焦點》近四日可謂一日精彩過一日，今天竟然去到控訴被人投訴。

我個人的看法是，亞視的主事人一定明白節目違反廣播守則的機會十分高，因為廣播守則不可能讓任何節目隨便加句「只代表主持人意見」就免責。他們大概是恃著投訴委員會調查需時，盤算過後決定趕在立法會投票日前繼續進行文宣。到委員會在幾個月後作出懲處亦預期只會罰數十萬元，這對亞視現在的主事人來說肯定是個便宜交易。

電視或電台廣播投訴表格

已投訴：
「本人投訴亞洲電視2012年9月3日下午6:40在12台亞洲台播出的節目「ATV焦點」，標題為「有建設有破壞 分清正邪免被利用」。該節目觀點偏頗二元化，並無事實根據支持。雖然節目標明「只反映主持人…之意見」，但整個節目均沒有指出主持人為何許人，旁述形式則與其他時事節目相類，客觀結果是觀眾容易產生錯覺，以為播出為客觀持平之時事節目。」

大陸再次放寬來港限制，為本港再添1400萬潛在旅客，社會的反應基本上是負面的。也難怪，物價租金高企，醫療教育資源皆不足，還有直至不久前沒多少人討論的黑工問題，說自由行沒生大量問題只會是自欺欺人。

殘酷的現實是，香港僱員的實質工資不會上升是預期之內—遊客需求的首要是香港這地方，其次是香港公司，香港僱員的重要性其實不大。說白一點，若香港的商戶把前線員工全換上能操流利普通話的大陸僱員，大陸遊客大概只會更多。

總有人會在這個時候出來說：不要緊，商家掙多了錢，一般市民就是會受惠的。但我已多次指出，這「造餅效應」並沒有理論基礎。香港主流論述有一個錯誤的觀點，就是相信自由市場本身會令所有人受惠。這是錯的。微觀經濟學對市場機制的基礎理論有二：一，市場機制（在某些看似合理的假設下） 是有效率（efficient）的，沒有辦法令所有人都更受惠；二，任何有效率的財富分配理論上都可以透過資產轉移來達到。「有效率」有多大意義？很簡單，如果香港所有資源都歸李嘉誠一人擁有，那也算是有效率的結果。所以只談效率而不論再分配基本上是沒有意義的。

還有近日熱騰騰的黑工問題。大陸的廉價勞動力本來是好事：例如，原本負擔不起裝修等服務的家庭，現在就會受惠於大陸工人低廉的價錢。但香港當然亦要面對典型的外勞問題 ，即本地低技術工人無法和外勞競爭，加速社會收入兩極化。

一般來說，為了保護現有利益而放棄較低成本的選擇並不可取：試想如果十九世紀的人們為保馬車生計而放棄使用蒸汽火車，那會是怎麼樣的世界。要達至某程度上的人人受惠，長遠需要低技術工人轉型—這是微觀經濟第一課就會教的比較優勢定律（law of comparative advantage）。但轉型不是一時三刻可以做得到，所以短期內資源再分配是心須的—就是把資源從受惠於自由行的群體轉移到受害的群體。

要達至這目標，最理想當然是直接向自由行的受益人益稅，但這在執行上是十分難的：哪家公司、哪個家庭受惠於自由行？受惠了多少？這通通都不易算。退而求其次，我們或許可以考慮從最容易的方法入手：在邊境關卡徵費。舉個例，假若向每名入境的大陸遊客徵收500元類似落地簽證般的費用，再保守估計只乘下三千萬旅客人次，庫房都會有150億元進賬，直接派錢的話每名市民可以分到2000多元。除達至資源再分配這目標，徵費亦會減少遊客及即日來回黑工的數量，可謂一舉三得。

恭喜各位得獎同學！這是對你們知識和努力的肯定。

中大經濟系 傑出本科論文獎 2011-12
CUHK Dept. of Economics Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award 2011-12

1. Mr. Paul Cheung (second year student) won the Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award with his Senior Thesis, “Over-Inference in Small Sample: An Experiment” supervised by Dr. Vinci Chow.
2. Ms. Lam Chor Wan, Doris (final year student) won the Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award with her STOT paper, “Effects of Demographic Changes on Savings (Based on the Life-cycle Hypothesis) supervised by Dr. Ko Kwan Wai.
3. Ms. Kyli KY Li (final year student) won the Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award with her STOT paper, “Do People who Work More Hours Earn More in Hong Kong?” supervised by Dr. Vinci Chow.
4. Mr. Man Kin Chow (first year economics major) won the Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award (Junior Division) with his STOT paper, “Study of the Relationship between The Salary And GDP in Hong Kong” supervised by Dr. Vinci Chow.
5. Ms. Shannagh Wu Si Lok (first year economics major) won the Excellent Undergraduate Paper Award (Junior Divison) with , “A study in reaching a “revenue-neutral” arrangement to improve the traffic situation amongst the three road harbour crossings”, supervised by Prof. Zhang Hongliang.

The Award ceremony will be held in the Academic Counseling Session of the Orientation Camp for incoming economics students scheduled on 21 August from 11 am to 1.00 pm in William MW Mong Engineering Building, Rm 407.

Winners of the Junior Division will each receive a book coupon of $500 and a certificate, while winners from more senior years will each receive a book coupon of $1000 and a certificate.

的士申加價政府擱置 司機﹕小勝 商會﹕憤怒

這是簡單經濟學理論都可以解釋到的現象：司機工會明白會員收入受壓於司機數目，加價對提高收入並無幫助，反而會減少會員工作機會，是壞事。車主則明白加價等如可以加租，是以拼死支持。

This is simple economics: driver unions understand that members’ income is being held back by the number of available drivers, and therefore cannot be improved by a fare raise. A raise will in fact have the negative effect of reducing the number of taxi rides taken. Taxi owners, on the other hand, understands that rent goes up with fare, resulting in their strong support of the raise.