Steven N. S. Cheung

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Steven N. S. Cheung (Traditional Chinese: 張五常; born December 1, 1935), a Hong Kong born economist, specializes in the fields of transaction costs and property rights. He is also the most expensive columist in Hong Kong. Known for his work on private property rights and transaction costs, he achieved his fame with an economic analysis on China open-door policy after 1980s. He is also the first to introduce concepts from the Chicago School of Economics into China.

He obtained his PhD in economics from UCLA, where his teacher was famous American economist Armen Alchian. He taught in the Department of Economics at the University of Hong Kong from the 1980s to 1990s. During this period, Cheung reformed the syllabus of Hong Kong's A-level Economics examination, adding the concepts of the postulate of constrained maximization, methodology, transaction cost and property right, most of which originate from the theories of the Chicago school. He is also good at photography and Chinese calligraphy.

Contents

1 Comments on China's modernization
2 Alleged Tax Evasion
3 Timeline
4 Important Works

4.1 Thesis

5 External links

Comments on China's modernization

He had written many books (in Chinese) commenting on China's modernization programs from an economic point of view. In 1980s, Cheung strongly supported an economic transformation of China as a market economy. However, in that decade, China went through serious inflation, leading to strong economic, political and social tensions.

However, after 1992, China continued to reform economically. Most of Steven Cheung's predictions have come true.

Alleged Tax Evasion

On January 28, 2003, Cheung was indicted on thirteen counts by a federal grand jury. The charges consisted of six counts of filing a false income tax return, six counts of filing false foreign bank account reports, and one count of Consipiracy to Defraud the United States. Linda Su Cheung, the wife of Steven N.S. Cheung, was also indicted on the latter count.

The Cheungs were to be arraigned on February 20, 2003. However, they failed to appear. Consequently, arrest warrants were issued.

Originally a professor at Hong Kong University, because of the extradition agreements between the US and Hong Kong, Cheung has since then stayed in the PRC, a country which has no such agreements with America.

Currently, Cheung lives in Shenzhen. He now still writes books and works as a columnist for a famous Hong Kong newspaper, Apple Daily. Occasionally, he paid some visits to some universities in the mainland and was welcomed by some students there, accompanied by his wife acting as the translator of Mandarin for Cheung who speaks Cantonese and English only.

Timeline

1935- Born in Hong Kong
1941- Fled from China
1959- Economics in UCLA
1967- Analysis of the Theory of Share Tenancy and Variable Rural Land Resource Allocation, phd thesis
1969- Teaching at University of Washington
1982- Head of Economics and Finances School of Hong Kong University

Important Works

Thesis

Analysis of the Theory of Share Tenancy and Variable Rural Land Resource Allocation published
Transaction Costs, Risk Aversion, and the Choice of Contractual Arrangements
The Fable of the Bees: An Economic Investigation

Professor Steven Cheung is one of the top scholars in the study of economics. While his analysis relies mostly on the fundamental price theory, including individuals' maximization, law of demand and diminishing rate of marginal return, he fully anticipates the importance of transaction and institutional costs in the real world. Along with Coase, they are skeptical about the development of modern economics, which is deviated from Adam Smith's tradition.

External links

[Department of Justice Statement on Warrants]

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