Yew-Kwang Ng or simply Kwang ( zh, t=黃有光; English pronunciation ; born 7 August 1942) is a
Malaysian-Australian economist, who is currently Special Chair Professor of
Economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
at
Fudan University, Shanghai, and a Distinguished Fellow of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He has published in a variety of academic disciplines and is best known for his work in
welfare economics
Welfare economics is a field of economics that applies microeconomic techniques to evaluate the overall well-being (welfare) of a society.
The principles of welfare economics are often used to inform public economics, which focuses on the ...
.
Life and work
Yew-Kwang Ng was born during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, in
Japanese-occupied Malaya. While in high school, he was drawn to studying economics because of his ambition to "establish communism in an independent Malaysia"; the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
in China and events in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
later led Ng to change his mind about the viability of
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
.
Ng graduated with a
Bachelor of Commerce from
Nanyang University in 1966 and later a
Ph.D. from the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
in 1971.
During his studies at Nanyang University, amid the unrest of demonstrations and strikes, Ng came close to being arrested or expelled several times.
During the 1980s, working as a columnist, Ng wrote in support of Deng Xiaoping's
Chinese economic reforms.
Ng has been a Fellow of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia since 1981. He held a chair as professor of economics at
Monash University between 1985 and 2012 and is now an emeritus professor.
Between 2013 and 2019, Ng held the Winsemius chair at the Department of Economics at
Nanyang Technological University.
In 2018, Ng delivered the inaugural Atkinson Memorial lecture at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, dedicated to the memory of Sir
Tony Atkinson. Since July 2019, Ng has held the position of Special Chair Professor at the School of Economics at
Fudan University, Shanghai.
He is also a columnist for the Chinese business news
NetEase
NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company founded by Ding Lei in June 1997. It provides online services with content, community, communications, and commerce. The company develops and operates online PC and mobile games, adverti ...
Finance online portal.
Research
Ng has written or co-authored more than 30 books and published more than two hundred refereed papers in economics and papers on
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
,
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
,
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
, and
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
.
He proposed
welfare biology as an academic discipline, stating that this has been his more underestimated contribution. He published his first academic paper in the ''
Journal of Political Economy'', one of the top five economics journals, while he was still an undergraduate student.
Economics
Ng is renowned for his work in
welfare economics
Welfare economics is a field of economics that applies microeconomic techniques to evaluate the overall well-being (welfare) of a society.
The principles of welfare economics are often used to inform public economics, which focuses on the ...
and a majority of his academic papers are in this area.
He wrote his first book on the topic in 1979, ''Welfare Economics: Introduction and Development of Basic Concepts''. Within welfare economics, he is particularly known for his work on the theory of the third best,
social choice theory
Social choice theory is a branch of welfare economics that extends the Decision theory, theory of rational choice to collective decision-making. Social choice studies the behavior of different mathematical procedures (social welfare function, soc ...
and
happiness economics
The economics of happiness or happiness economics is the theoretical, qualitative and quantitative study of happiness and quality of life, including positive and negative Affect (psychology), affects, well-being, life satisfaction and related co ...
.
In many publications, he defends a view of
utility as being both
cardinally measurable and
interpersonally comparable.
Ng coined the term "
mesoeconomics" and helped establish the field as a simplified, tractable
general-equilibrium analysis with both micro and macro elements. As a method, it is used to study the implications of imperfect competition on the macroeconomy. It has been argued that mesoeconomics "typically yields conclusions that are consistently more closely aligned with empirical evidence than any of the competing macroeconomic models."
Ng contributed to the development of the new field of inframarginal economics, which "provides an analytical framework
..to reconcile the focus of neoclassical economics on distribution with the preoccupations of classical economists
..regarding the
division of labour
The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise ( specialisation). Individuals, organisations, and nations are endowed with or acquire specialised capabilities, a ...
."
He collaborated with
Xiaokai Yang on this topic and in 1993 they published the joint book ''Specialization and Economic Organization: A New Classical Microeconomic Framework'', which was said to have "credibly challenged Neoclassical Economics".
Moral philosophy
In moral philosophy, Ng advocates for the
consequentialist position of
hedonistic utilitarianism. He has defended this view in various academic papers, some of which were jointly written with the utilitarian moral philosopher
Peter Singer. He also argues for this position in his 2000 book ''Efficiency, Equality, and Public Policy''.
Thanks to his early work on
animal welfare
Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...
,
global catastrophic risks and the measurement of wellbeing, he is credited with originating many ideas that would later be incorporated into the philosophy of
effective altruism.
In a 2020 paper, Ng analyses the implications of the economic
theory of the second best for effective altruism, arguing that we live in a "third best" world where informational and administrative constraints prevent us from realising the second best outcomes.
Awards and honours
Ng has received a number of awards in recognition of his work. In 2007, he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the
Economic Society of Australia, the highest award that the Society bestows. In the tribute associated with the award, he was described as "one of Australia's most important and best internationally known economists."
According to Economics Nobel Laureate
Kenneth Arrow, Ng is "one of the leading economic theorists of his generation" and Nobel Laureate
James Buchanan credited him to have "made major contributions in theoretical Welfare Economics."
After Ng's retirement from Monash University, he was recognised as an "honorary and adjunct appointment" by the Department of Economics. Given Ng's interest in global priorities research, he is on the advisory board of the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford.
Politics
Ng has stated that "trying to avoid excessive inequality
sa very important issue, and likely the third most important public issue after environmental protections and peacekeeping". He is also a proponent of generous immigration policies, stating that "immigrants bring in factors complementary to the local ones and make the economy more vibrant".
In 2020, Ng wrote a column which suggested that allowing
polyandry could be a way for China to reduce problems arising from
the male-skewed gender ratio in the country. Ng also stated his intention to write a follow-up column discussing the pros and cons of legalizing prostitution. The column went viral and attracted heavy criticism online; many critics said that Ng's arguments were misogynistic and offensive, while others objected to polyandry as contrary to traditional marriage.
Philanthropy
In 2015, Ng offered to
match all donations to up to $25,000 to the charity organization
Animal Ethics, a nonprofit organization aiming to promote animal ethics and to provide information and resources for animal advocates.
At the Nanyang Technological University Chinese Heritage Centre's
Mid-Autumn Festival charity auction in 2016, Ng and his wife donated , which went towards the purchase of a painting by Master Yang Bailiang, a Chinese artist, which Ng donated to the centre and is now on permanent display.
Select bibliography
Articles
* 1982. "A Micro-Macroeconomic Analysis Based on a Representative Firm," ''Economica'', N.S., 49(194),
p. 121139.
* 1984. "Quasi-Pareto Social Improvements," ''American Economic Review'', 74(5),
p. 10331050.
*1990. "Welfarism and Utilitarianism: A Rehabilitation": ''Utilitas'' 2 (2): pp. 171–193
Abstract.* 1992. "Business Confidence and Depression Prevention: A Mesoeconomic Perspective," ''American Economic Review'', 82(2),
p. 365371.
* 1995. "Towards Welfare Biology: Evolutionary Economics of Animal Consciousness and Suffering," ''Biology and Philosophy'', 10(3), pp. 255–285
Abstract.* 1997. "A Case for Happiness, Cardinalism, and Interpersonal Comparability," ''Economic Journal'', 107(445),
p. 18481858.
*1999. "Utility, informed preference, or happiness: Following Harsanyi's argument to its logical conclusion", ''Social Choice and Welfare'', 16, pp. 197–216
Abstract.*2001. "Welfare-reducing Growth Despite Individual and Government Optimization," ''Social Choice and Welfare'', 18(3), pp. 497–506 with Siang N
* 2001. "Is Public Spending Good for You?," ''World Economics'', 2(2), pp. 1–17, with Harold Bierman
* 2003. "From Preference to Happiness: Towards a More Complete Welfare Economics, ''Social Choice and Welfare'', 20(2), pp. 307-350
* 2006. "Population Dynamics and Animal Welfare: Issues Raised by the Culling of Kangaroos in Puckapunyal," ''Social Choice and Welfare,'' 27(2), pp. 407–422, with Matthew Clarke.
* 2007. "Eternal Coase and External Costs: A Case for Bilateral Taxation and Amenity Rights, ''European Journal of Political Economy'', 23(3), pp. 641–659
Abstract.*2011. "Happiness Is Absolute, Universal, Ultimate, Unidimensional, Cardinally Measurable and Interpersonally Comparable: A Basis for the Environmentally Responsible Happy Nation Index," ''Monash Economics Working Papers'' 16–11
*2011. "Consumption tradeoff vs. catastrophes avoidance: implications of some recent results in happiness studies on the economics of climate change," ''Climatic Change'', 105: 109
Abstract.*2016. "How welfare biology and common sense may help to reduce animal suffering," ''Animal Sentience'', 7
Abstract.*2016. "The Importance of Global Extinction in Climate Change Policy," ''Global Policy'', 7(3), pp. 315–322
Abstract.*2017. "Towards a Theory of Third‐Best," ''Pacific Economic Review'', 22(2), pp. 155–166
Abstract.*2020. "Effective altruism despite the second-best challenge: Should indirect effects Be taken into account for policies for a better future?," ''Futures'', 121.
Abstract.
Books
* 1979 and 1983. ''Welfare Economics'' (London: Macmillan)
* 1986. ''Mesoeconomics: A Micro-Macro Analysis'' (London: Wheatsheaf)
* 1990. ''Social Welfare and Economic Policy'' (London: Wheatsheaf)
* 1993. ''Specialization and Economic Organization'' (Amsterdam: North-Holland, with X. Yang)
* 1994. ''The Unparalleled Mystery'' (Beijing: Writers Press).
* 1998. ''Increasing Returns and Economic Analysis,'' ed. with
Kenneth Arrow and X. Yang (London: Macmillan)
* 1999. ''Economics and Happiness'' (Collected papers in Chinese) (Taipei: Maw Chang)
* 2000. ''Efficiency, Equality, and Public Policy: With a Case for Higher Public Spending'' (London: Macmillan)
* 2011. ''Common Mistakes in Economics by the Public, Students, Economists & Nobel Laureates'' (New York: Nova Science Publishers)
* 2019. ''Markets and Morals: Justifying Kidney Sales and Legalizing Prostitution'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
* 2020. ''Evolved-God Creationism'' (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing)
* 2022.
Happiness—Concept, Measurement and Promotion' (New York: Springer)
* 2024. ''Do We Survive Our Biological Death?: A Rational Examination'' (Chișinău: Eliva Press)
References
External links
Yew Kwang Ng's NetEase column(in Chinese)
*
of Yew-Kwang Ng
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Yew-Kwang
1942 births
Living people
20th-century Australian male writers
21st-century Australian male writers
20th-century Malaysian writers
21st-century Malaysian writers
Australian animal welfare scholars
Australian economics writers
Australian economists
Consequentialists
Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Academic staff of Fudan University
Malaysian economists
Malaysian emigrants to Australia
Malaysian non-fiction writers
Malaysian people of Chinese descent
Academic staff of Monash University
Nanyang University alumni
People associated with effective altruism
University of Sydney alumni
Utilitarians
Welfare economists