Hong Kong SAR is now highly unusual as a large economy running a currency board system that pegs the Hong Kong Dollar to the US Dollar. While usually credited with providing stability and prosperity for Hong Kong, the system has become controversial since the decline of the US Dollar since 2002 and the adoption of a flexible basket peg system for the Renminbi in 2005. Why was this system adopted in the first place? Why did Hong Kong go back to a currency board in 1983 after a decade of floating exchange rates? This volume explores the origins and persistence of the system in the context of the long term monetary integration with mainland China and presents the viewpoint of several of those involved in the restoration of the currency board system in 1983. It also explains the changes made since the 1990s and looks to Hong Kong's future prospects.

In the earlier stages of integrated circuit design, analog circuits consisted simply of type 741 operational amplifiers, and digital circuits of 7400-type gates. Today's designers must choose from a much larger and rapidly increasing variety of special integrated circuits marketed by a dynamic and creative industry. Only by a proper selection from this wide range can an economical and competitive solution be found to a given problem. For each individual case the designer must decide which parts of a circuit are best implemented by analog circuitry, which by conventional digital circuitry and which sections could be microprocessor controlled. In order to facilitate this decision for the designer who is not familiar with all these subjects, we have arranged the book so as to group the different circuits according to their field of application. Each chapter is thus written to stand on its own, with a minimum of cross-references. To enable the reader to proceed quickly from an idea to a working circuit, we discuss, for a large variety of problems, typical solutions, the applicability of which has been proved by thorough experimental investigation. Our thanks are here due to Prof. Dr. D. Seitzer for the provision of excellent laboratory facilities. The subject is extensive and the material presented has had to be limited. For this reason, we have omitted elementary circuit design, so that the book addresses the advanced student who has some back ground in electronics, and the practising engineer and scientist."

Hong Kong SAR is now highly unusual as a large economy running a currency board system that pegs the Hong Kong Dollar to the US Dollar. This volume explores the origins and persistence of this system, presenting the viewpoint of several of the main protagonists in the operation of the currency board since 1983 as well as new research by academics.