oultine of feature articles by Serena Tang...promising:)

China + World Inflation
- current macro situation: trend: rising inflation; why?:
---> growth
---> supply not catching up
- command economy type controls (price, quantity) which exacerbate things
- infrastructure not being able to catch up
- will it get worse?
---> policies it can use:
- price controls... short term? long term? (link back to above)
- banking system
- capital flows (to Hong Kong!)
---> new labour laws (I've got some great anecdotal evidence...):
- rising costs for factory owners; passed on to consumers; higher prices still!
- factories closed down; unemployment?
- OR, is it just a trend in the whole world, higher inflation?;
- some figures, and projected trends
- where did it go the last 20 years?
- what can be done now?; can anything be done now?
- In the midst of this, where is China heading to now?
- projected slower growth (WB China Quarterly Update)
- price stability ~ political stability (think 1988 discontent over prices, and 1989...)
- can communist era economic policies reign in an increasingly capitalist system?


Hong Kong
- current macro situation: importing inflation left, right and centre: main reasons:
--> China
- reliance on Chinese economy for food, necessities
- Chinese funds and investments
--> USD peg
- brief history of currency peg; how it works; why did we do it?
--> stability
- what to do about inflation and other problems?
--> not possible to cut China links
--> leave peg?; possible consequences? (rumours of revaluation led to speculative attacks in Oct 2007!?... I didn't know about this...)
>> BUT is independent monetary policy really needed?; fiscal policies at work

--> THIRD WAY: "may the best currency win" (this was from MS's Stephen Jen...!!):
- repegging to the yuan, OR
- a gradual shift to actually using yuan only (already happening) ('optimum currency area??? implications?? constraints??)
--> Implications for nations (UAE, Qatar, etc) which also have dollar pegs? (Not much!)