Household spending is a key factor in personal and family financial planning, as well as policymaking to improve people’s livelihoods. While the government’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a mainstream indicator, it often fails to accurately reflect the daily living costs of the public. CPI has limitations, such as over-emphasising non-essential goods and services (e.g. Rental expenses and furniture), and people’s subjective inflation perceptions tend to be higher than the actual data.

The authors have found that pressuring businesses to implement a completely fair pricing system may actually backfire and lead to tacit collusion where consumers will ultimately suffer. In today’s wave of big data, companies are building more complex advanced algorithms to categorise consumers and set different price points. The goal is to help businesses identify […]

While Africa is gaining a voice globally, with the African Union joining the G20, its economic progress lags behind. Africa’s per capita income declined from 30% of the global average in 1990 to only 21% in 2023, with low participation in international trade beyond exporting raw materials.

The World Economic Forum has identified misinformation and disinformation as the most significant short-term risks faced by the global community. Another research report suggests that the financial impact of fake news results in a $39 billion loss in the stock market annually.

In this data-driven age, companies across the economy are actively seeking ways to collect and use consumer data. For example, the car-hailing app Uber has been accused of monitoring their users’ mobile phone battery and then charging them more if their battery is low (see Note 1). The travel website Orbitz has also faced questions […]

In recent years, companies across various industries in Hong Kong, particularly SME, have been cautious about the local business environment and export outlook. Geopolitical factors have led to significant challenges in the business landscape, changes in Mainland Chinese tourists’ spending patterns, and intensifying competition from surrounding regions.

With the rapidly changing economic structure nowadays, investing in higher education is no longer a guaranteed way to achieve high returns. This raises the question: is it still worth attending university? Due to the on-going economic restructuring in China, university graduates not only face difficulty in finding jobs, but a more unusual phenomenon is that the graduates with higher education qualifications encounter even more difficulties in securing employment. The author opined that it is because the education industry has expanded excessively in the past 20 years, coupled with uneven economic development and reduced social mobility, which has diminished educational returns.

Extreme weather incidents are becoming more frequent, bringing unprecedented challenges to various industries. In addition to the increasing costs of equipment maintenance and emergency measures, the enterprises’ production plans may be affected by equipment damages and supply chain interruptions. Investors are also concerned about the impact of extreme weather on businesses, resulting in fluctuations in stock prices and increased financing costs.