Francis Leo Goodstadt

Biography

Leo F. Goodstadt was chief policy adviser to the Hong Kong Government as Head of its Central Policy Unit from 1989 to 1997, where he was responsible for generating initiatives on a wide range of financial, budgetary and political issues.

He is currently involved in economic research and investment management relating to Asia. He has been awarded five Research Fellowships at the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research since 2005. He has a close connection with the University of Hong Kong where he held a Commonwealth Scholarship (1962-64) and was appointed a lecturer in economics (1964-66), honorary lecturer in law (1979-85); an honorary research fellow at its Centre of Asian Studies (1977-98, 2005-11); and an honorary institute fellow at its Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2011-).

His published research includes articles on a wide range of economic and political issues in Hong Kong. He has also published books and academic articles on China's economic management and its fiscal, demographic and agricultural systems. Prior to 1989, he was engaged as a consultant economist by a number of major corporations with substantial exposure in the Asian region, particularly in the banking sector. Since 1998, he has resumed his private-sector activities. From 1966 to 1976, he worked at the Far Eastern Economic Review where he became Deputy Editor, with special responsibility for coverage of China and Hong Kong. He was Editorial Director of Asiabanking (1981-86) and Hong Kong correspondent for Euromoney (1978-88) and the London Times (1967-73). His record of public service in Hong Kong includes past membership of eight statutory and advisory bodies, as well as of the Hang Seng Index Advisory Committee.