Seasteading by Joe Quirk & Patri Friedman

Author:Joe Quirk & Patri Friedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press

Pre-steads

It started with Hong Kong. This tiny peninsula and group of islands on the southern coast of China was ping-ponged back and forth between various rulers; first as part of China; then a colony of the British Empire in 1842 after the First Opium War; then occupied by Japan during World War II ; then reoccupied by the British, who would eventually cede control back to China in 1997. China, not sure how to reintegrate Hong Kong into its ancient nation, renamed it the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ( SAR ), promising it some measure of legal and economic autonomy.

As a result of this unique historical trajectory, this very small piece of China was administered according to British common law, whereupon Hong Kong became an international melting pot, with Chinese traditions and British rules, earning it the nickname “East Meets West.” Chinese and British pioneers seeking new opportunities beyond the reach of the laws and mores of their home countries arrived in the cordoned-off islands and peninsula of Hong Kong. Dodging Chinese border guards, hundreds of thousands of refugees swam or boated across shark-infested waters to Hong Kong. In 1960 Hong Kong’s 3 million inhabitants were less than 0.5 percent of China’s overall population of 667 million. The caprice of history had created a rare controlled experiment in economics. What was the result?

Let’s set the perspective. Many consider the period between the American Civil War and the year 2000 to be the greatest growth of prosperity for the average American. And, indeed, it was unprecedented in world history. During the 130 years between 1870 and 2000, US GDP per person grew tenfold, as measured in 1996 dollars.

During the thirty-six years from 1961 through 1996, Hong Kong’s GDP per person grew 87 times.

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