Converging Interests, Emerging Diversity: A "Nested Instrumental Approach" To Financial Policy In Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai.

Abstract

Ranked among the world?s most competitive financial centres, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai have established themselves as Asia?s leading International Financial Centres (IFC?s). However, the existing literature on financial policy and IFC development remains focused on economic structural variables, overemphasizing a convergence in IFC development that is based on a set of common success factors. However, IFC?s are in reality vastly differentiated from each other. Based on data collected over the course of fieldwork, I argue that differences in policy subsystem configurations across the three cases have resulted in the formulation of different policy mixes comprising stabilizing, developmental, and enabling policies in varying weightage. The presence of a unique policy subsystem configuration in each IFC leads to the formulation and implementation of policy mixes tailored to the imperatives of the IFC?s subsystem configuration.