We investigate inequality through four interconnected themes:
Understanding Inequality and Wealth Creation
The Centre will document trends in wage, income, consumption, and wealth inequality and wealth concentration at the individual, household, and firm levels. It will analyse the roles of entrepreneurship, innovation, housing, and intergenerational transmission in the creation and persistence of wealth. Comparative work will highlight commonalities and differences between Asian economies and North America and Europe.
Effects of Shocks and Policies
Research will assess how large-scale policies and economic shocks shape inequality. Topics include China’s War on Poverty and its intended and unintended consequences; the effects of WTO entry, export growth, and recent trade disputes on growth, innovation, and labour market inequality; and how inheritance, estate, and wealth taxation affect wealth accumulation and intergenerational transmission.
Networks and Behaviours of the Ultra-Rich
Using Forbes billionaire lists and systematic open-source data collection, the Centre will build a novel dataset on sources of wealth (e.g., self-made vs. inherited), dynastic ties, philanthropy, political engagement, and social media presence, with comparisons across Asia, North America, and Europe and over time. Qualitative work—including interviews with wealth managers and, where possible, the ultrarich—will add depth, leveraging HKU’s MSc in Family Wealth Management to access practitioner networks.
Socio-economic and Political Impacts
The Centre will examine how inequality affects innovation, skilled migration, well-being, and governance. Projects include measuring public perceptions of billionaires using social media and online surveys; testing whether wealth concentration fosters or hinders innovation; studying how returns to skill and inequality shape talent mobility; and assessing how economic elites influence policy under different institutional settings.