Command and Control Cities in Global Space-economy Before and after 2008 Geo-economic Transition

The global economic downturn caused primarily by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007 engendered revenue loss of the multinational corporations.Existing studies have yet to depict the detrimental impacts on city's command and control functions induced by the sub-prime mortgage crisis together with its residual wave of global economic recession on the global spatial economy.Recent and previous studies have produced an 'instant history' of the global spatial economy before the global economic downturn undermines the global economy in late 2008.However,the waxes and wanes of major cities' command and control functions on the global economic arena before and after the outbreak of financial crisis and its associated geo-economic transitions are still poorly understood.This paper attempts to contribute a new set of customized data to update and fill in the gap in the literature with the investigation of the command and control functions of cities around the world from 2005 to 2009.Particular attentions are paid to the time-space relationship of the geo-economic transition that can capture the recent historical images of the command and control situation of different cities in the world.

Roles of Financial Innovation and Information Technology:Lessons from US Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis and Its Implications for China

The mortgage loan has evolved from a local lending instrument into a major global security and its role is unparallel to other financial instruments in the process of financial globalization.This paper explains how technology and financial innovation transformed the mortgage loan from a local security into a premier global security traded worldwide.It examines the fundamental flaws of this process and why it does not work in regards to mortgage lending and the re-securitization products that were created through financial innovation.The findings show that regulation was unable to keep pace with financial innovation,which created an environment where actors in the financial service sector were able to behave geographically irresponsibly by using information asymmetries to their advantage by participating in moral hazard activities and engaging in other immoral and unethical business practices that were centered around localized geography,which ultimately contributed to the global financial crisis.It also examines the roll of financial innovation in regard to the Lehman Brothers Mini-Bond in Hong and its role as a driving force behind China's newly emerging shadow banking sector.It concludes with a policy recommendation and its implication for China's continued economic development.

Industrial Structural Changes in Hong Kong,China under One Country,Two Systems Framework

Hong Kong has undergone substantial economic transformations and developed into a sophisticated business and financial center in the Asia-Pacific region,since the return of sovereignty to China as a Special Administrative Region under the One Country Two Systems (OCTS) in 1997.This paper discusses and analyzes the industrial structural changes of Hong Kong in recent decades as well as its future challenges and opportunities.The data and finding reveal that even though Hong Kong will face fierce competition from the Mainland's cities as the rise of China,the important role as a bridge between China and the rest of the world will brace Hong Kong itself under the OCTS for developing into a service hub for business and trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

Guest Editor's Acknowledgements

This special column was the outcomes of the Public Forum on China's Spatial Strategic Planning and Development in the National 12th Five-year Plan held at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in April 2011.The Public Forum was jointly organized by the