Gaming, governance and public policy: constraints and opportunities

The impact of foreign investment, concentrated on a single industry over a very short period, has resulted in a range of economic, political and social problems that need to be addressed if the polity is to be steered from its present volatility to the future calmer waters of high growth and social stability. To reach that goal requires overcoming some formidable constraints. The causes of instability lie, in some cases, in hot investment money chasing too few goods, sending prices spiralling and no doubt sparking feelings of resentment and relative deprivation among those who have not benefited from the casino boom. In other cases, the causes of instability lie in unresolved problems, such as structural unemployment, that have festered for many years. Still others lie outside the scope of the Macao government in an uncertain global economy and in the policies of the Chinese government.