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Resource misallocation and productivity gaps in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Chuah,Lay Lian
  • Loayza,Norman V.
  • Nguyen,Ha Minh

Abstract

The reallocation of resources from low- to high-productivity firms can generate large aggregate productivity gains. The paper uses data from the Malaysian manufacturing census to measure the country's hypothetical productivity gains when moving toward the level of within-sector allocative efficiency in the United States to be between 13 and 36 percent. Across three census periods in 2000, 2005, and 2010 (the most recent available), the productivity gaps appear to have somewhat widened. This suggests that the"catching-up"process remains a challenge and a potential opportunity, particularly if total factor productivity is expected to be the dominant source of future economic growth. The simulations, based on different magnitudes of the realization of hypothetical productivity gains, show that Malaysia's gross domestic product growth can potentially increase by 0.4 to 1.3 percentage points per year over five years. The analysis accounts only for resource misallocation within sectors. There may be other, possibly large, resource misallocation across sectors. If so, closing those gaps could boost total factor productivity and gross domestic product growth even further.

Suggested Citation

  • Chuah,Lay Lian & Loayza,Norman V. & Nguyen,Ha Minh, 2018. "Resource misallocation and productivity gaps in Malaysia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8368, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8368
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Firend Al. R., 2018. "Marketing Strategies of Services and Purchasing Incentives in Asia," GATR Journals jmmr187, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    2. Paul, Saumik & Raju, Dhushyanth, 2021. "Barriers to Growth-Enhancing Structural Transformation: The Role of Subnational Differences in Intersectoral Productivity Gaps," IZA Discussion Papers 14407, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Lee,Yoonsoo, 2020. "Long-Term Shifts in Korean Manufacturing and Plant-Level Productivity Dynamics," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9279, The World Bank.
    4. Eleftherios Giovanis & Oznur Ozdamar, 2018. "Productivity and Resource Misallocation: Evidence from Firms in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region Countries," Working Papers 1266, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Dec 2018.
    5. Abdur Rahman,Amanina Binti & Schmillen,Achim Daniel, 2020. "From Farms to Factories and Firms : Structural Transformation and Labor Productivity Growth in Malaysia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9463, The World Bank.
    6. Eleftherios Giovanis & Öznur Özdamar, 2022. "Productivity and Resource Misallocation: Empirical Findings from Firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and Turkey," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, January.

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