In a market with heterogeneous individuals, the fact that a particular group of individuals are the consumers of a particular product already indicates that there exist systematic differences between them and the average person. Simple tools from statistical theory are used here to analyze the...

The Employees Retraining Programme in Hong Kong was promoted as the solution to structural unemployment resulting from rapid transformation of the economy. However, our study of the labour market performance of a group of trainees shows no evidence of any positive programme effect, more than...

This paper takes Gary Becker's efficient marriage market hypothesis at face value and directly confronts it with data from Hong Kong. The theory of optimal assignment is used to develop an empirical model of spouse selection, which resembles a Tobit model. This model can address positive or...

The market for resident domestic helpers offers a rare opportunity where the surplus from employment relationship can be quantitatively measured for each individual employee. Using the difference between employer's cost of time and employee's wage as a measure of rent, it is found that wages for...

Using ordinary calculus techniques, we investigate the conditions under which LeChatelier effects are signable for finite changes in parameter values. We show, for example, that the short run demand for a factor is always less responsive to price changes than the long run demand, provided that...

Heterogeneity in product value across individuals and across different states of nature for the same individual widens opportunity and is, therefore, valuable apart from the taste for variety as such. The value of diversity is discussed in the context of a discrete choice model and several...