Convergence Behaviour of Growth Triangle: The Case of IMT-GT

Regional disparities and their evolution displayed a vital economic as well as political issue for most regions or countries (Blizkovsky, 2012). Due to realizing this shocking fact, it has drawn a lot of attention from all over the world to tackle this issue in order to avoid its adverse implication towards holistic economic development. The beauty of Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) is that it aims to increase the trade and investment among the three regions as it pursues private sector-led economic growth. However, evidence shows that the progress of development in this sub-region is either stagnant or slow. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the convergence hypothesis of the participating states and determine the reason behind each of the convergence behaviour portrayed. Non-linear time varying factor model namely Phillip and Sul has been employed in this study. The result implies that Negeri Sembilan is the only diverging group while the rest is converging. This phenomenon indicates that most of the states and provinces in this sub-region have positive performance towards the economic growth. Effective development planning can be done by policy makers after determining the performance of each of the states and provinces

Flying Geese of Japan: Asian Electronic Industry

Although Japan is known as the largest electronics goods manufacturer, many Japanese companies are facing high cost production due to limited resources. Some Asian countries have been proven to surpass Japan due to their low cost production and cheaper labour. This study analyse the development of Asian leading electronic industries and validity Japan as the flying geese in Asian electronic industries. The empirical result shows that all Asian countries are divergence except Italy, India, United Kingdom and Indonesia. The study suggest that each of the Asian convergence countries should cooperate, give their obligation and commitment to track in the same direction of economic structure, political will and the income distribution of a country. This action could promote economic integration between Asian countries as a whole

Relationship between Education Expenditure, Capital, Labor Force and Economic Growth in Malaysia

Educational institutions play important role in producing highly educated communities. Investment in education an opportunities expansion to obtain higher education has become main economic development agenda in many countries, including Malaysia. Therefore, this study is conducted to examine the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth from 1970 to 2013. By using Cobb-Douglas Production Function in developing Multiple Regression Linear Model, the results show a significant and positive relationship between education expenditure and Malaysian economic growth. The findings further suggest that capital and labor force also influence economic growth in the long run

Sustainable Community Development through Homestay Programme

This study analyses the dimensionality of tourist perceived value in community-based homestay tourism context. A survey of 150 visitors to homestay in Kuching, Sarawak was conducted and used to examine the perceived value dimensions in tourism context, statistical analysis and structural equation model were used to verify the validity and reliability of scales used. Satisfaction Level was measured using tested perceived value with six dimensions that illustrated through structural construct, (i) emotional value, (ii) experiential value (host-guest interaction), (iii) experiential value (activity, culture and knowledge), (iv) functional value (establishment), (v) functional value (price), and (vi) functional value (service). The finding shows that emotional, experiential and functional are important determinants of perceived value which affect the visitor’s satisfaction level on homestay tourism. Moreover, statistical findings indicated that only five dimensional have positive affect towards Satisfaction Level while function value (establishment) computed a negative affect towards satisfaction

Has Kelantan grown faster than other states in Malaysia? A panel data analysis

Kelantan has been the poorest state in Malaysia for the past five deacades. Despite the vatious Malaysian development plants for the past several decades, regional disparity between states remains in Malaysia. Thus,the objectives of the present paper is to address the question whether Kelantan has been narrowing their income gap with other states in Malaysia. Using annual data for the period 1961 to 2003, our panel unit root test result suggest that (1) Kelantan converges towards Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Pahang, Perlis and Selangor ; (2)Kelantan is caching-up to Johor, Melaka, Penang, Sabah, Terengganu and Wilayah pesekutuan; and (3)Kelantan show divergence with Sarawak.In this respect, the government has an important role to play in enhancing growth by continuously providing stable economic environment for investment and other productive economic activities. This will ensure full convergence can take place in the future

Testing nonlinear convergence in Malaysia

The purpose of the present paper is to examine income convergence in Malaysia by applying the nonlinear unit root test presented by Kapetanios et al. (KSS 2003) and extended by Chong et al. (CHLL 2008) to permit the test of long-run convergence and catching-up hypotheses. The KSS-CHLL nonlinear unit root is applied to the test of nonlinear convergence between thirteen states with respect to Wilayah Persekutuan, the richest state of Malaysia, for the period of 1965 to 2003. Generally, the results suggest that out of the thirteen states, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Perlis and Selangor support the long-run convergence hypothesis; while Johor, Kelantan, Melaka, Pahang and Penang suggest catching-up. Lastly, Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu indicate income divergence from Wilayah Persekutuan