Many attribute Malaysia’s admirable economic growth to liberal economic policies. However, this view ignores the way coalitional politics often drove illiberal government intervention in the economy to correct ethnically based economic inequality, create national heavy industries, and favor politically well-connected entrepreneurs. A more nuanced analysis reveals a complex mix of liberal and illiberal economic policies… Continue reading Coalitional Politics, Economic Reform, and Technological Upgrading in Malaysia
Category: Economics
Malaysia: Firm Competitiveness, Investment Climate, and Growth
This report is part of the advisory services being provided by the World Bank at the request of the Government of Malaysia. The first phase of advisory services includes (i) the firm-level survey and (ii) the report on firm competitiveness. The second phase is aimed at implementing the findings of this report and will include… Continue reading Malaysia: Firm Competitiveness, Investment Climate, and Growth
Taking Agriculture to a Higher Plane
Policy alone is not enough to make the agricultural sector globally competitive; a vision needs to be put in place to push the country to the forefront as a major environmentally friendly food producer. Publication/Conference: MIERScan, 10 March 2008. Download
Assessing The Tourism Sector Potential
Tourism represents an increasingly important sector of the Malaysian economy. The tourism industry has experienced rapid growth and has been identified as a key driver of the growth in the services sector. The industry continues to be a key foreign exchange earner, contributing to GDP (gross domestic product) growth, investment and employment as well… Continue reading Assessing The Tourism Sector Potential
Pushing the Investment Rate Higher
There is a need to stimulate the domestic economy, particularly investment, as the economy has largely been driven by consumption and the external sector in the past several years. Now that the external segment has toned down, the domestic sector has little choice but to step up further. Publication/Conference MIERScan, 1 October 2007 [Download]
FDI’s – Are We Keeping Pace?
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has played a critical role in Malaysia’s development strategy. The government continues to rely heavily on FDI as a means to finance development. However, FDI stocks for Malaysia have been stagnating since the financial crisis and is worrying especially when compared to our competitors. Publication/Conference MIERScan, 18 February 2008. [Download]
Innovation in South-East Asia: lessons for Europe?
Reveals that, despite the rapid growth of Malaysia and other South-East Asian economies, very little is known about innovation in the region. Using Malaysia as an example, the evidence shows that technological and organizational innovation at the local transnational corporation (TNC) plant level has played a major part in Malaysia’s export success. [Download]
A comparative study on the use of third party logistics services by Singaporean and Malaysian
Analysis shows that there are similarities on the use of contract logistics services in Singapore and Malaysia. These include the proportion of firms utilising contract logistics, the extent of involvement of functional managers, budget allocation and activities outsourced. Notable differences between the two countries include the decision-making process, and the benefits to the firms from… Continue reading A comparative study on the use of third party logistics services by Singaporean and Malaysian
Keeping Malaysia Competitive
Malaysia’s favourable ranking in terms of international competitiveness masks its institutional weaknesses. Malaysia should reform its institutions to address these weaknesses to remain competitive. Publication/Conference: MIERScan, 29 October 2007 [Download]
Is East Asia Fit For An Optimum Currency Area? An Assessment Of The Economic Feasibility Of A Higher Degree Of Monetary Cooperation In East Asia
This paper attempts to make a contribution to the recent search for a suitable assessment of the economic feasibility of a higher degree of monetary cooperation in East Asia. By using a structural vector autoregression approach as well as a generalized purchasing power parity approach, we find that a larger group of appropriately selected East… Continue reading Is East Asia Fit For An Optimum Currency Area? An Assessment Of The Economic Feasibility Of A Higher Degree Of Monetary Cooperation In East Asia