Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T08:56:30.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Tale of Two Cities: A Comparative Study on the Welfare Regimes of Hong Kong and Macao

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2014

Dicky W. L. Lai  and
Ernest W. T. Chui
Dicky W. L. Lai
Affiliation:
Macau Polytechnic Institute E-mail: wllai@ipm.edu.mo
Ernest W. T. Chui
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong E-mail: ernest@hku.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite their geographical proximity, and similarities in ethnic composition and political contexts, Hong Kong's and Macao's social policies have not been compared in the literature. This article aims to compare the welfare regimes between these two city-states. The comparison involves two dimensions: the pattern of welfare mix, and the modification impact of social policy on the capitalist social structure. It is found that the two states’ patterns of welfare mix have much in common, and their social policies are both marked by a relatively low level of modification impact. Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that Hong Kong and Macao can be grouped into a distinct welfare regime. The major contributions of this study are that it helps add to the understanding of East Asian social policy and suggests a useful framework for comparing welfare regimes.

Keywords

Hong KongMacaoEast Asian welfare regimewelfare mixmodification impact
Type
Themed Section on Managing Social Change and Social Policy in Greater China: Welfare Regimes in Transition?
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 263 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aspalter, C. (2006) ‘The East Asian welfare model’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 15, 4, 290–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspalter, C. (2011) ‘The development of ideal-typical welfare regime theory’, International Social Work, 54, 6, 735–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bambra, C. (2005) ‘Worlds of welfare and the health care discrepancy’, Social Policy and Society, 4, 1, 31–41.Google Scholar
Briggs, A. (2006) ‘The welfare state in historical perspective’, in Pierson, C. and Castles, F. G. (eds.), The Welfare State Reader, 2nd edn, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 16–29.Google Scholar
Castles, F. G. and Mitchell, D. (1993) ‘Worlds of welfare and families of nations’, in Castles, F. G. (ed.), Families of Nations: Patterns of Public Policy in Western Democracies, Aldershot: Dartmouth, pp. 93–128.Google Scholar
Chau, R. C. M. and Yu, S. W. K. (2013) ‘Defamilisation of twenty-two countries: its implications for the study of East Asian welfare regime’, Social Policy and Society, 12, 3, 355–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chui, E. (2008) ‘The state of welfare in Hong Kong’, in Aspalter, C., Aldosary, A., Dashkina, A. and Singh, S. (eds.), The State of Social Welfare in Asia, Taoyuan: Casa Verde Publishing, pp. 123–52.Google Scholar
Chui, E., Tsang, S. and Mok, J. (2010) ‘After the handover in 1997: development and challenges for social welfare and social work profession in Hong Kong’, Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 20, 1, 52–64.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1997) ‘Hybrid or unique: the Japanese welfare state between Europe and America’, Journal of European Social Policy, 7, 3, 179–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E., Headey, B., Muffels, R. and Henk-Jan, D. (1999) The Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, R. and Peng, I. (1996) ‘The East Asian welfare states: peripatetic learning, adaptive change, and nation-building’, in Esping-Andersen, G. (ed.), Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economics, London: Sage Publications, pp. 192–224.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2004) ‘East Asia: the limits of productivist regimes’, in Gough, I. and Wood, G. (eds.), Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America: Social Policy in Development Contexts, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 169–201.Google Scholar
Holliday, I. (2000) ‘Productivist welfare capitalism: social policy in East Asia’, Political Studies, 48, 4, 706–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, I. (2005) ‘East Asian social policy in the wake of the Financial Crisis: farewell to productivism’, Policy and Politics, 33, 1, 145–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, I. and Wilding, P. (2003) ‘Conclusion’, in Holliday, I. and Wilding, P. (eds.), Welfare Capitalism in East Asia: Social Policy in the Tiger Economies, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 161–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (2012a) 2011 Population Census Summary Results, Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department.Google Scholar
Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (2012b) 2011 Population Census, Thematic Report: Household Income Distribution in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department.Google Scholar
Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau (2004) Hong Kong's Domestic Health Accounts, Estimate of Health Expenditure, 1989/90–2009/10, Hong Kong: Food and Health Bureau, www.fhb.gov.hk/statistics/download/dha/en/a_estimate_0910.pdf (accessed 14 February.2012).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Social Welfare Department (2013) Department Annual Report 2009–10 and 2010–11, Hong Kong: Social Welfare Department.Google Scholar
Jones, C. (1993) ‘The Pacific challenge: Confucian welfare states’, in Jones, C. (ed.), New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe, London: Routledge, pp. 198–217.Google Scholar
Kwon, H. J. (1997) ‘Beyond European welfare regimes: comparative perspectives on East Asian welfare systems’, Journal of Social Policy, 26, 4, 476–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwon, H. J. (2005) ‘An overview of the study: the developmental welfare state and policy reforms in East Asia’, in Kwon, H. J. (ed.), Transforming the Developmental Welfare State in East Asia, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lai, D. W. L. (2012) ‘Macao welfare model: an extreme world of welfare capitalism’, International Social Work, OnlineFirst, doi: 10.1177/0020872812452176.Google Scholar
Lee, E. W. Y. and Haque, M. S. (2008) ‘Development of the nonprofit sector in Hong Kong and Singapore: a comparison of two statist-corporatist regimes’, Journal of Civil Society, 4, 2, 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Y. J. and Ku, Y. W. (2007) ‘East Asian welfare regimes: testing the hypothesis of the developmental welfare state’, Social Policy and Administration, 41, 2, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macao Statistics and Census Service (2004) Household Budget Survey 2002/2003, Macao: Statistics and Census Service.Google Scholar
Macao Statistics and Census Service (2009) Household Budget Survey 2007/08, Macao: Statistics and Census Service.Google Scholar
Macao Statistics and Census Service (2012) Global Results of Census 2011, Macao: Statistics and Census Service.Google Scholar
Macao Statistics and Census Service (2013) Statistics Database, http://www.dsec.gov.mo/TimeSeriesDatabase.aspx (accessed 22 March 2013).Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1950) Citizenship and Social Class, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1981) The Right to Welfare and Other Essays, London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Midgley, J. (1986) ‘Industrialization and welfare: the case of the Four Little Tigers’, Social Policy and Administration, 20, 3, 225–37.Google Scholar
Powell, M. and Barrientos, A. (2004) ‘Welfare regimes and the welfare mix’, European Journal of Political Research, 43, 83–105.Google Scholar
Ramesh, M. (2004) Social Policy in East and Southeast Asia, London: Routledge Curzon.Google Scholar
Tang, K. L. (2000) Social Welfare Development in East Asia, New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (2012) Poverty Alleviation Net: Rate of Persons in Low Income Households (2001–2011 1st half year), Hong Kong: Council of Social Service, http://www.poverty.org.hk/sites/default/files/120303_p_rate_01–11H.pdf (accessed 12 June 2012).Google Scholar
White, G. and Goodman, R. (1998) ‘Welfare Orientalism and the search for an East Asian welfare model’, in Goodman, R., Gordon, W. and Kwon, H. J. (eds.), The East Asian Welfare Model: Welfare Orientalism and the State, London: Routledge, pp. 3–24.Google Scholar
Wilding, P. (2008) ‘Is the East Asian welfare model still productive’, Journal of Asian Public Policy, 1, 1, 18–31.Google Scholar