06 January 2014
WP266 | Malaysia’s Past Successes and Uncertain Future: Graduating from the Middle or Caught in the Middle?
Abstract
In the space of just over five decades, Malaysia has transformed from a largely agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy with a sustained high rate of economic growth. While Malaysia’s achievement in terms of raising the per capita income of its citizens is pretty much universally acclaimed, recent concerns have been expressed that Malaysia is now in a middle-income trap. Moreover, there are a growing number of commentators who are arguing that Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP) needs an overhaul if Malaysia is to progress to become a high-income country. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the Malaysian economy and critically evaluates recent strategic reform initiatives, encapsulated in the New Economic Model (NEM) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that are designed to assist Malaysia in its aim to become an innovation-intensive, high-income country by 2020.
About the Authors
Hooi Hooi Lean is an associate professor at the School of Social Sciences (Economics Program), Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has published more than 80 book chapters and journal articles in many reputed international journals such as Applied Economics, Economics Letters, Energy Economics, Journal of Financial Markets, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Pacific Basin Finance Journal, Singapore Economic Review and Urban Studies. Dr Lean is listed in the Who’s Who in the World and Researcher of the Week in GDNet East Asia for her excellent contributions. She has been awarded the ASEAN-ROK Academic Exchange Fellowship Program in 2007, the Democratic Pacific Union Visiting Fellowship in 2008 and the International HERMES Fellowship Program in 2009. Dr Lean also won the “Sanggar Sanjung” Excellent Award for Publication since 2009 and “Hadiah Sanjungan” Best Award for Publication since 2006. There are 984 citations to her research on Google Scholar.
Russell Smyth is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics Monash Univeristy, Australia. He has published approximately 300 book chapters and journal articles in the fields of economics, law and political science. His research interests encompass Asian economies, Chinese economic reform and financial economics, among others. From 1998 to 2008, he was Editor of Economic Papers, the policy journal of the Economic Society of Australia and was a member of the Central Council of the Economic Society of Australia. In 2008, he received the Honorary Fellow Award of the Economic Society of Australia. He is currently an Associate Editor of Energy Economics and a member of seven editorial boards. There are 4,285 citations to his research on Google Scholar.
Abstract
In the space of just over five decades, Malaysia has transformed from a largely agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy with a sustained high rate of economic growth. While Malaysia’s achievement in terms of raising the per capita income of its citizens is pretty much universally acclaimed, recent concerns have been expressed that Malaysia is now in a middle-income trap. Moreover, there are a growing number of commentators who are arguing that Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP) needs an overhaul if Malaysia is to progress to become a high-income country. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the Malaysian economy and critically evaluates recent strategic reform initiatives, encapsulated in the New Economic Model (NEM) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that are designed to assist Malaysia in its aim to become an innovation-intensive, high-income country by 2020.
About the Authors
Hooi Hooi Lean is an associate professor at the School of Social Sciences (Economics Program), Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has published more than 80 book chapters and journal articles in many reputed international journals such as Applied Economics, Economics Letters, Energy Economics, Journal of Financial Markets, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Pacific Basin Finance Journal, Singapore Economic Review and Urban Studies. Dr Lean is listed in the Who’s Who in the World and Researcher of the Week in GDNet East Asia for her excellent contributions. She has been awarded the ASEAN-ROK Academic Exchange Fellowship Program in 2007, the Democratic Pacific Union Visiting Fellowship in 2008 and the International HERMES Fellowship Program in 2009. Dr Lean also won the “Sanggar Sanjung” Excellent Award for Publication since 2009 and “Hadiah Sanjungan” Best Award for Publication since 2006. There are 984 citations to her research on Google Scholar.
Russell Smyth is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics Monash Univeristy, Australia. He has published approximately 300 book chapters and journal articles in the fields of economics, law and political science. His research interests encompass Asian economies, Chinese economic reform and financial economics, among others. From 1998 to 2008, he was Editor of Economic Papers, the policy journal of the Economic Society of Australia and was a member of the Central Council of the Economic Society of Australia. In 2008, he received the Honorary Fellow Award of the Economic Society of Australia. He is currently an Associate Editor of Energy Economics and a member of seven editorial boards. There are 4,285 citations to his research on Google Scholar.
