Productivity Unplugged : The Challenges of Malaysia's Transition into a High-Income Country

World Bank Group

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: PRODUCTIVITY;    FIRM PRODUCTIVITY;    LABOR PRODUCTIVITY;    INFRASTRUCTURE;    LABOR MARKET;   

RP-ID  :  126781

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

As Malaysia continues to strive towardhigh-income status, accelerating productivity growth hasbecome the country’s central economic policy challenge.Productivity growth has become increasingly important as thecountry’s traditional economic engines have slowed.Declining oil and gas output, coupled with the slowinggrowth of the Malaysian mining sector, has reduced the paceof capital accumulation, while demographic trends areslowing the growth of the labor force. Demographic trendsunderscore the vital importance of productivity growth tothe continued development of the Malaysian economy.Malaysia’s demographic transition is inhibiting theexpansion of the labor supply, and female labor-forceparticipation is low by the standards of comparablecountries. Weakening external demand and intensifying globalcompetition in Malaysia’s key export industries confirm thenecessity of increasing productivity levels. The reportpresents an empirical analysis of the role of productivityin the Malaysian economy. It evaluates the country’sinstitutional and policy framework, and identifies keyconstraints to productivity growth. Using time-series dataand cross-country comparisons, the report examines the waysin which infrastructure and institutional quality, marketefficiency, innovation, and workforce skills influenceproductivity in Malaysia. This analysis is designed toinform a productivity-focused economic agenda, and thereport concludes by presenting a set of policyrecommendations and institutional reforms designed tobolster long-run productivity growth.