This is a collection consisting largely of poems and Lok- Sang's translation of the Daodejing, the Xin Xin Ming, and the Heart Sutra, plus a number of short passages grouped under the title of The Essence of Spirituality from A to Z. The book brings together the teachings from the west and from the east about how to live a rich, fulfilling life. Carrying the subtitle "a tribute to Life", the author promotes his "happiness formula" LIFE, consisting of Love, Insight, Fortitude, and Engagement, pleading with readers that Life is the only resource we have and that we all need to do the best we can to ensure that its potential can be realized. That is the surest and the only way to gain happiness. Professor Liah Greenfeld, Boston University: "Today, when history takes one of its true great turns ....Lok Sang Ho's book appears particularly timely.... It is a book of poetry not only because it contains masterful original renditions of the Song of the Truthful Mind, the Heart Sutra, and most remarkably, the Daodejing of Laozi, but essentially because it seems to feel its way to enlightenment with words, using words as a search-light, rather than a recording medium of ideas and impressions." Drew Weiss, Clinical Psychiatrist, Carleton College: "As I read verse 57(of the Daodejing) again, I am reminded of my culture, the clever gadgets in most people's hands today afford access to the world's many great wisdoms and to information essential to becoming a fully engaged member of society. Yet much of what people week and share is rubbish or worse and most seem completely unaware of themselves, the world, or the effects of their clever gadgets. This book is a treasure.
As a book on public policy, this book is unique in addressing explicitly the role of human nature. Only with a good understanding of human nature can policy makers address their foremost needs and anticipate how people may respond to specific designs in policy. This way policy makers can avoid "unintended consequences." The book also provides a new perspective on the meaning of public interest, which is based on intellectual roots dating back to J.S.Mill and more recently Harsanyi and Rawls. Traditionally, economists have referred to either the Hicksian criterion or the Kaldorian criterion as the yardstick to whether a policy is welfare enhancing, not realizing that both of these criteria fail abjectly in producing a convincing test for welfare improvement. This is because ex post, typically some people will gain and some people will lose from any policy. The author argues for an alternative, ex ante welfare increase criterion that is based on how people would assess a policy if they were completely impartial and totally ignored their personal interests. It applies the principles to key policy concerns such as health policy, tort law reform, education and cultural policy, and pension reform. The healthcare reform proposals in the book illustrate the application of the principles. The author proposes a basic protection plan under which standard basic healthcare services are priced the same whether they are provided by public or private caregivers—at levels that can contain both demand side and supply side moral hazard. Annual eligible healthcare expenses are capped to alleviate worries. A "Lifetime Healthcare Supplement" that includes an element of risk sharing adds to patients’ choice and protection without compromising fiscal sustainability.
This book investigates and analyses critical issues in education reform and discusses possible pitfalls in the current global drive to promote excellence. Instead of documenting the successes and frustrations encountered by education reformers in specific jurisdictions, this book aims to offer directions for education reformers, and sets out to be prescriptive rather than descriptive. While the cases covered here are focused on Hong Kong, they are no less useful in throwing light upon the direction of education reform all over the world. The first section of the volume, “Conceptual Framework”, provides the theoretical underpinnings for the design and implementation of education reform. The next two sections, “Reform of Tertiary Education” and “Experiments, Dilemmas, and Risks in Secondary Schools” look at reform at the tertiary and secondary levels in greater detail. The final section, “Ideals vs. Reality: the Interplay of Diverse Interests and Diverse Perceptions”, looks at the conflicting goals and perceptions of different “stakeholders”, with a concluding chapter that summarizes the main lessons to be learnt. This book will be of interest to scholars, educators, parents, policymakers, politicians, and all who are concerned about our younger generation and their future. “The editors, Lok Sang Ho, Paul Morris and Yue-ping Chung are to be congratulated on producing a volume which is both hard-hitting and insightful about education reforms in Hong Kong. The range of experiences of the contributing authors contribute to a most interesting mix of perspectives about education reform. The focus is squarely on Hong Kong, in terms of general policy and reform issues, followed by more specific chapters dealing with issues of graduate teachers, English as a medium of instruction, and the role of the media. However, the issues raised are very applicable to many countries. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on education reform.” —Professor Colin J. Marsh, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Principles of Public Policy Practice was written with policy makers, concerned citizens, and students of public policy in mind. Striving to avoid technical language, the author introduces a new paradigm that starts from the commonality of human nature and the assumption that public policy should be impartial. Rather than playing the interests of one group versus those of another, he argues convincingly that public policy should aim at enhancing the ex ante welfare for everyone if everyone did not know the position or the identity one would assume. Using this conceptual device of the representative individual, the analysis readily leads to policy implications that are both reasonable and concrete in diverse areas ranging from health care, crime and punishment to macroeconomic and financial market stability. The book concludes with a chapter summarizing the various principles of public policy practice that will meet the challenges of the new millennium. These principles, certainly of interest to academics in social sciences who are studying public policy, political economy, international financial systems, and capital markets, should appeal equally to practitioners, including public policy makers, consultants, advisers, administrators, and public service trade unions.
This is a collection consisting largely of poems and Lok- Sang's translation of the Daodejing, the Xin Xin Ming, and the Heart Sutra, plus a number of short passages grouped under the title of The Essence of Spirituality from A to Z. The book brings together the teachings from the west and from the east about how to live a rich, fulfilling life. Carrying the subtitle "a tribute to Life", the author promotes his "happiness formula" LIFE, consisting of Love, Insight, Fortitude, and Engagement, pleading with readers that Life is the only resource we have and that we all need to do the best we can to ensure that its potential can be realized. That is the surest and the only way to gain happiness. Professor Liah Greenfeld, Boston University: "Today, when history takes one of its true great turns ....Lok Sang Ho's book appears particularly timely.... It is a book of poetry not only because it contains masterful original renditions of the Song of the Truthful Mind, the Heart Sutra, and most remarkably, the Daodejing of Laozi, but essentially because it seems to feel its way to enlightenment with words, using words as a search-light, rather than a recording medium of ideas and impressions." Drew Weiss, Clinical Psychiatrist, Carleton College: "As I read verse 57(of the Daodejing) again, I am reminded of my culture, the clever gadgets in most people's hands today afford access to the world's many great wisdoms and to information essential to becoming a fully engaged member of society. Yet much of what people week and share is rubbish or worse and most seem completely unaware of themselves, the world, or the effects of their clever gadgets. This book is a treasure.
Happiness is a private matter and individual pursuit; however, public policy does have an important role and can contribute much through various enabling means. This volume discusses the determinants of happiness and presents case studies of how public policy can help promote happiness.
Annotation Intra-regional trade has been rising rapidly, especially after China's accession to the WTO in 2001. China's economy is expanding at a great rate, and will soon surpass Japan to become the world's second largest economy. This book is based on papers presented by scholars at a conference on 'APEC at 20 and the Rise of China'.
Much attention has been given to the economics of everyday life, which typically applies economic principles to the analysis of the different choices that people face under different situations. Yet there are hardly any books on the economics of life—an economics that takes the finite lifespan as the starting point and that looks at how one can maximize the subjective value from life given the constraint of the limited lifespan. In this volume, Lok Sang Ho suggests that the lack of progress in happiness among developed countries despite significant economic growth is due to a deficit of "mental goods", rather than a lack of material goods. The author stresses the role of culture and mental habits in determining the efficacy of gaining mental goods which includes love, a sense of security and autonomy, contentment, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and freedom from anxiety. Drawing on empirical research, the book explores how to invest, work, and consume from a whole life perspective, arguing that every action - consumption, investment, or work - should enhance the total quality of life. This overriding concern about life itself is known as love. The Psychology and Economics of Happiness uses the analytical framework of economists on a subject studied by positive psychologists, drawing both from empirical evidence and from psychological literature. It will be of interest to researchers and academics interested in economic and positive psychology, as well as those from related fields keen to learn more about living fuller, happier lives.
Studies of Hong Kong society have long focused one-sidedly upon economic prosperity and political stability. Contributors to this volume redress this imbalance by taking a critical view of Hong Kong's political development from the perspectives of social conflict and collective action. Instead of looking at Hong Kong from the top, this volume documents the active role played by local actors from below (political groups, student activists, trade unions, women groups, environmentalists, and community organizers) and their impact on social and political development in Hong Kong society in the context of political transition and democratization, economic restructuring, and an emergent local identity.
This book is written with an acute awareness of the need for new insight to ensure (1) universal protection in basic healthcare; (2) providing choice; (3) efficient production and consumption of healthcare services; (4) financial sustainability of the healthcare system. Defining the public interest as the welfare of the "representative individual" with no vested interest who imagines himself to have equal chance of being anyone in society, this book explores alternative ways of finance and delivery, the optimal interface between the public healthcare sector and the private healthcare sector, and that between public insurance and private insurance. The book includes a theoretical but non-technical section that distinguishes between the stock of health and functional health, proposes a utility maximizing/behavioural framework to explain behaviour and the role of health policy and investigates the nature of risk and alternative insurance mechanisms. The book illustrates with a number of country studies, covering a large range of healthcare systems from the American and the European systems to various Asian systems as well as those of Australia and New Zealand. The survey of country experiences reinforces the theoretical conclusions about the role of the public healthcare sector and social insurance and that of the private market. The book highlights the importance of and the workability of "pricing right" and "capping right": pricing standard or basic healthcare services at the right price can contain both demand-side and supply-side moral hazard and lead to more efficient production and consumption of healthcare services; capping annual eligible healthcare expenses will provide effective protection against financial risks. The proposal of lifetime healthcare supplement offers greater choice. Private caregivers and insurers supplement the public healthcare system by offering more choices and premium services, as well as additional protection.
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