John james cowperthwaite biography

Sir John Apostle Cowperthwaite (ur. 25 kwietnia1916, zm. 21 stycznia2006 w Dundee) – brytyjski działacz państwowy, wysoki urzędnik administracji Hongkongu^[1][2].

Uczęszczał do Merchiston Castle Educational institution w Edynburgu, studiował następnie nauki ekonomiczne na Outburst Andrews College i College of Metropolis. W 1941 podjął pracę w administracji kolonialnej w Hongkongu, przed 1945 pewien czas spędził również w Sierra Leone. Po powrocie do Hongkongu zajmował się problematyką gospodarczą, w latach 1961–1971 pełnił funkcję sekretarza ds. finansów (gubernatorami Hongkongu byli w tym okresie Robert Darkbrown Black i David Trench). Jako zwolennik wolnego handlu przyczynił się do rozwoju gospodarczego Hongkongu^[3]. W 1971 został doradcą banku inwestycyjnego Jardine Author w Hongkongu. Powrócił force Wielkiej Brytanii w 1981.

Za wieloletnią pracę w administracji państwowej został odznaczony m.in. Orderem Imperium Brytyjskiego (1960) i Orderem Św. Michała i Św. Jerzego (1964), a w 1968 otrzymał tytuł szlachecki „Sir”. Od 1941 był żonaty (z Sheilą Thomson), miał jednego syna (zmarłego constitute życia ojca).

Przypis

•

John James Cowperthwaite

Sir John James CowperthwaiteKBECMG (25 April1915 – 21 January2006) was a British civil servant and the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1961 to 1971. His free market policies of positive non-interventionism are widely credited with turning post-war Hong Kong into a thriving global financial center.

Sourced

[edit]

Official Report of Proceedings of the Hong Kong Legislative Council

[edit]

• I am confident, however old-fashioned this may sound, that funds left in the hands of the public will come into the Exchequer with interest at the time in the future when we need them.
  • February 28, 1962, page 51.

• The fact that previous generations have handed down to us a substantial public heritage by way of roads, port, etc. almost completely free of debt, seems to me to impose some limitation on the validity of the theory that by borrowing we should, or could, pass on the burden of development to the next generation.
  • February 28, 1962, page 55.

• An infant industry, if coddled, tends to remain an infant industry and never grows up or expands.
  • March 30, 1962, page 131.

• Official opposition to overall economic planning and planning controls has been characterized in a recent editorial as "Papa knows best". But it is precisely becau

  •

  Sir John Cowperthwaite: A Personal Tribute

  I first met Sir John in 1999. As a postgraduate student at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, Sir John’s alma mater, I was just beginning to be interested in economic development. Having spent a part of my life in Africa, I wanted to understand the reasons for the wealth and poverty of nations. Scotland proved a propitious setting for such a study. After all, Scotland gave birth to the liberal branch of the Enlightenment. Its leading lights included such giants of political and economic thought as Adam Ferguson, David Hume, and Adam Smith — the celebrated author of The Wealth of Nations.

  By the time I met Sir John, the success of Hong Kong had already been firmly established. Hong Kong was and is the world’s freest economy and one of the greatest triumphs of the laissez-faire approach to economic development. Sir John arrived in Hong Kong in 1947. At that time, Hong Kong’s residents were poorer than citizens of some African countries. The territory was small in size and had no natural resources. Many economists, Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal among them, predicted prosperity for Africa and a bleak future for Asia.

  By the end of the 20th century, however, Hong Kong had become one of the most prosperous territories in the