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This Article traces the evolution of U.S. law and policy toward Hong Kong—from the United States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (USHKPA) to the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (HKHRDA) and Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020 (HKAA). The USHKPA, enacted under the Clinton administration after the Tiananmen massacre but before the handover of Hong Kong, is a product of the United States' China policy, based on engagement. The USHKPA represented a compromise between Congress and the executive branch and reflected the nature of soft law, implementation of which is largely dependent on Executive discretion. After three decades of a policy of engagement and more than twenty years after China's resumption of control over Hong Kong, the United States' China policy has gradually changed, and it saw a significant turn under the Trump administration. In the midst of U.S.–China tension and with bipartisan support from Congress, the HKHRDA and the HKAA strengthen the review, reporting, and sanctions mechanisms for human rights, democracy, and autonomy in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, the Trump administration's decision to suspend Hong Kong's preferential treatment under U.S. law, due to the erosion of the high degree of autonomy guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law, poses questions about its legality and legitimacy under public international law and World Trade Organization (WTO) law.This Article argues that U.S. sanctions against individuals and entities who undermine Hong Kong's human rights, democracy, and autonomy can be justified based on international human rights law given the sanctions' limited scope, special designation, effectiveness, and proportionality. We also argue that the United States' trade-related measures can be justified under the general exception—public morals—and the national security exception in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). We observe that the United States' termination of preferential treatment for Hong Kong based on its separate customs territory status covers four dimensions: rules of origin, tariffs, export control, and currency. We argue that even though there is little guidance from GATT and WTO law, historical and comparative approaches are helpful in evaluating whether Hong Kong still can sustain its WTO membership by virtue of its separate customs territory status.

The Asia-Pacific region is notable for its diversity and the close interplay between the countries and economies of this area. As a member of this region, Taiwan has consistently participated in relevant bilateral or regional interactions related to both economic and noneconomic matters with other nations. As such, differences or disputes are often unavoidable. Therefore, an effective and peaceful dispute settlement mechanism is required to maintain amicable and mutually beneficial relations in this region. For that purpose, the international community should recognize the Asia-Pacific Regional Mediation Organization (hereinafter ARMO') to initiate new international dispute resolution mechanisms. This paper mainly assesses the possible influences of the ARMO from the perspective of Taiwan, and analyzes and compares the different mediation mechanisms at domestic and international levels. As the ARMO has a broad coverage regarding membership and jurisdiction, and would appoint impartial and professional mediators who provide a 'friendly, swift and peaceful forum platform for dispute resolution, the ARMO is a promising platform for Taiwan to settle a wide range of disputes. If the ARMO could achieve a balance between efficiency and the autonomy of parties with respect to the proceedings and the effect of the settlement, the ARMO could be achieved a higher standing in the Asia-Pacific region.

In this paper, we develop a consumption-based asset pricing model motivated by prospect theory, where habit formation determines the endogenous reference point. This exploits the similarity between habit formation and prospect theory. Both emphasize that the investor does not care about the absolute amount of gain or loss, but rather compares the gain or the loss experienced to a benchmark. The results show that when taking people's loss averse attitude over consumption into consideration, our model is capable of resolving the equity premium puzzle.

This study is an attempt to examine whether the deviations of purchasing power parity and uncover interest rate parity Granger-cause the 1997 Asian financial crisis by using vector autoregression and Granger causality tests. The results show that the purchasing power parity and uncover interest rate parity do not hold for most Asian markets. We find weak evidence to support that the deviations of purchasing power parity and uncover interest rate parity have the power to explicate the origin of the financial crisis.