Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis

For the last four decades, income disparities across states in Malaysia continue to be a matter of concern. The existence of regional inequalities and the prospect that these inequalities may widen were recognized by the Malaysian government. The eight volumes of the 5-Year Malaysia Plan reflect the...

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Main Authors: Muzafar, Shah Habibullah, Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan, Puah, Chin Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Geografia: International Journal of Development, Society and Environment 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/7/Regional%20income%20disparities%20in%20Malaysia%20%28abstract%29.pdf
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author Muzafar, Shah Habibullah
Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan
Puah, Chin Hong
author_facet Muzafar, Shah Habibullah
Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan
Puah, Chin Hong
author_sort Muzafar, Shah Habibullah
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description For the last four decades, income disparities across states in Malaysia continue to be a matter of concern. The existence of regional inequalities and the prospect that these inequalities may widen were recognized by the Malaysian government. The eight volumes of the 5-Year Malaysia Plan reflect the determination of the Malaysian government in alleviating if not totally eradicating the problem of regional or state level imbalances. The recent Ninth Malaysia Plan has again emphasized regional development policies in bridging the gap of regional disparities for the next five years. Using annual data for the period 1965 to 2003, the stochastic convergence definition suggested by Bernard and Durlauf (1995), univariate unit root tests suggested by Oxley and Greasley (1995) and panel unit root testing procedures proposed by Levin et al. (2002), Im et al. (1997) and Maddala and Wu (1999), our findings strongly support the stochastic convergence of catching up hypothesis for six regions in Malaysia. An important implication of this study is that Malaysia’s regional development policies, on average, have had a positive impact on the per capita income in all of the six regions.
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spelling unimas-183442023-03-23T07:21:16Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/ Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis Muzafar, Shah Habibullah Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan Puah, Chin Hong HB Economic Theory For the last four decades, income disparities across states in Malaysia continue to be a matter of concern. The existence of regional inequalities and the prospect that these inequalities may widen were recognized by the Malaysian government. The eight volumes of the 5-Year Malaysia Plan reflect the determination of the Malaysian government in alleviating if not totally eradicating the problem of regional or state level imbalances. The recent Ninth Malaysia Plan has again emphasized regional development policies in bridging the gap of regional disparities for the next five years. Using annual data for the period 1965 to 2003, the stochastic convergence definition suggested by Bernard and Durlauf (1995), univariate unit root tests suggested by Oxley and Greasley (1995) and panel unit root testing procedures proposed by Levin et al. (2002), Im et al. (1997) and Maddala and Wu (1999), our findings strongly support the stochastic convergence of catching up hypothesis for six regions in Malaysia. An important implication of this study is that Malaysia’s regional development policies, on average, have had a positive impact on the per capita income in all of the six regions. Geografia: International Journal of Development, Society and Environment 2012 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/7/Regional%20income%20disparities%20in%20Malaysia%20%28abstract%29.pdf Muzafar, Shah Habibullah and Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan and Puah, Chin Hong (2012) Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis. Journal of Society and Space, 8 (5). pp. 100-111. ISSN 2180-2491 http://www.ukm.my/geografia/v2/index.php?
spellingShingle HB Economic Theory
Muzafar, Shah Habibullah
Dayang Affizzah, Awang Marikan
Puah, Chin Hong
Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title_full Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title_fullStr Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title_full_unstemmed Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title_short Regional income disparities in Malaysia: A stochastic convergence analysis
title_sort regional income disparities in malaysia: a stochastic convergence analysis
topic HB Economic Theory
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/18344/7/Regional%20income%20disparities%20in%20Malaysia%20%28abstract%29.pdf