John james cowperthwaite biography of william
Sir John Cowperthwaite - The Guardian.
Sir John Cowperthwaite
When Sir John Cowperthwaite, who has died aged 90, became financial secretary of Hong Kong in 1961, the average resident earned about a quarter of someone living in Britain.
John james cowperthwaite biography of william
By the early 1990s, average incomes in the colony were higher.
Cowperthwaite made Hong Kong the most economically free economy in the world and pursued free trade, refusing to make its citizens buy expensive locally-produced goods if they could import cheaper products.
Income tax was never more than a flat rate of 15%. The colony's lack of natural resources, apart from a harbour - and the fact that it was a food importer - made its success all the more interesting. Cowperthwaite's policies attracted the attention of economists like Milton Friedman, whose 1980 television series Free to Choose featured Hong Kong's economic progress in some detail.
Asked what the key thing poor countries should do, Cowperthwaite once remarked, "They should abolish the office of national statistics.&qu