Gini Index of Hong Kong and China in 2009

choi

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联合国贫富差距报告在香港引起强烈反响. VOA Chinese, Oct. 24, 2009.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/china/HK-shocked-20091024-65895567.html
("衡量贫富差距程度的基尼指数排名中，香港43．4，排第一，其次是新加坡42．5，中国大陆是41．5，名列第三，之后的次序是美国，印度，英国等。")

My comment: The Human Development Report 2009
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/
is issued by United Nation Develop Programme in October 2009. Table M of the complete report--at page 195, titled Economy and Inequality and not including Taiwan--has "Gini index" at the last column. The countries and their Gini index are as follows, in decreasing order.

Hong Kong 43.4
Singapore 42.5
China 41.5
United States 40.8
Russia 37.5
India 36.8
United Kingdom 36.0
* * *
Korea (Republic of) 31.6
Japan 24.9

Mexico 48.1
Philippines 44.0

My comment:
(a) This year, Hong Kong has the highest Gini index among countries in the category of "very high human development" (China being in the third category "medium human development"). These are NEW numbers. Needless to say, Many countries have higher Gini index than Hong Kong.
(b) In comparison, The Gini index for Hong Kong and China in the Human Development Report 2007/2008--the UN agency published it together rather than individually--was 43.4 (same as 2009) and 46.9 (higher tan that of 2009), respectively but the survey years for those numbers were 1996 (for Hong Kong) and 2004 (for China).


-------------Separately
(1) David Pierson, China's Push for Oil in Gulf of Mexico Puts U.S. in Awkward Spot. Four years after denying a Chinese bid to buy Unocal, the U.S. may be in too weak an economic position to object. Rebuffing China could also push it into the arms of countries hostile to the U.S. Los Angeles Times, Oct. 22, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-oil22-2009oct22,0,2776603.story
("CNOOC[] reportedly is negotiating the purchase of leases owned by the Norwegian StatoilHydro in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico")

(2)
(a) Lois Romano, An old classmate in a key role. Washington Post, Oct. 22, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102104054.html

(b) The transcript of the interview:

Voices of Power, Chris Lu.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102200872.html
Page 1 of the transcript talks about his, and his parents' background: "My parents were both born in China. They moved to Taiwan for grade school and high school. They both emigrated here in the late '50s for college."

Note: Cabinet Secretary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_secretary
("In the United States, there is an official called the Cabinet Secretary within the Executive Office of the President charged with maintaining relations between members of the Cabinet and the White House. The position is not a civil service position, instead being subject to presidential appointment.")

(3) Minky Worden, What an Olympic glow can't mask. Washington Post, Oct. 23, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100903413.html

Note: JI Sizun 纪斯尊

HISTORY

(4) History. Washington Post, Oct. 25, 2009 (available now).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102301911.html
(book review on Denise Chong, Egg on Mao; The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship. Counterpoint (publisher), Sept. 29, 2009.

Note: Lu Decheng 鲁德成, along with 余志坚 and 喻东晓

(5) Kirk Semple, In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin. New York Times, Oct. 22, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/nyregion/22chinese.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cantonese&st=cse
(Mandarin more popular than Cantonese in a public oschool at Manhattan's Chinatown)

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