IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/adbewp/0520.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic Corridors and Regional Development: The Malaysian Experience

Author

Listed:
  • Athukorala, Prema-chandra

    (Australian National University)

  • Narayanan, Suresh

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

Abstract

This paper examines prerequisites for a successful interstate economic corridor development program in a country with a federal system of government through an in-depth study of the design, implementation, and the developmental impact of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) in Malaysia that encompasses the states of Penang, Kedah, Perak, and Perlis. The analysis suggests that the NCER has the potential to leverage on the core strengths of the state of Penang—global connectivity, mature business ecosystem with a strong presence of multinational enterprises, and sizable talent pool—in order to redress the widening interregional and urban–rural development divide. While it is too early to assess the full outcome of NCER initiative, a potential problem looms in the future. The Northern Corridor Implementing Authority (NCIA), charged with implementing projects in the NCER, is structured with no formal positions allotted to planning officials from the member states. This will not pose problems in implementing projects that are in broad alignment with the interest of the states. Conflicts will arise, however, when state and NCIA views on projects differ. This potential problem can be overcome by restructuring the NCIA to allow for the formal inclusion of planning representatives from member states.

Suggested Citation

  • Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Narayanan, Suresh, 2017. "Economic Corridors and Regional Development: The Malaysian Experience," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 520, Asian Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbewp:0520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.adb.org/publications/economic-corridors-regional-development-malaysia
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prema‐Chandra Athukorala & Sisira Jayasuriya, 2003. "Food Safety Issues, Trade and WTO Rules: A Developing Country Perspective," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1395-1416, September.
    2. Masahisa Fujita & Paul Krugman & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561476, April.
    3. Laurent Wagner & Mariana Vijil, 2012. "Does Aid for Trade Export Performance? Investigating the Infrastructure Channel," Post-Print halshs-00726435, HAL.
    4. Krueger, Anne O, 1997. "Trade Policy and Economic Development: How We Learn," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 1-22, March.
    5. Bougheas, Spiros & Demetriades, Panicos O. & Morgenroth, Edgar L. W., 1999. "Infrastructure, transport costs and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 169-189, February.
    6. Mariana Vijil & Laurent Wagner, 2012. "Does Aid for Trade Enhance Export Performance? Investigating the Infrastructure Channel," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(7), pages 838-868, July.
    7. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2017. "Global Productions Sharing and Local Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: Evidence from Penang Export Hub, Malaysia," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 180-194, May.
    8. Carol Newman & John Page, 2017. "Industrial clusters: The case for Special Economic Zones in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 015, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Portugal-Perez, Alberto & Wilson, John S., 2012. "Export Performance and Trade Facilitation Reform: Hard and Soft Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1295-1307.
    10. Carol Newman & John Page, 2017. "Industrial clusters: The case for Special Economic Zones in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-15, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Narayanan, Suresh, 2018. "Economic corridors and regional development: The Malaysian experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-14.
    12. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    13. World Bank, 2009. "Geography in Motion: World Development Report 2009 (excerpt)," Transnational Corporations Review, Ottawa United Learning Academy, vol. 1(3), pages 40-46, September.
    14. Peter J. Rimmer, 2014. "Asian-Pacific Rim Logistics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12949.
    15. Prema‐chandra Athukorala & Jayant Menon, 1999. "Outward Orientation and Economic Development in Malaysia," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 1119-1139, November.
    16. Christian M. Rogerson, 2001. "Spatial development initiatives in Southern Africa: The Maputo Development Corridor," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 92(3), pages 324-346, August.
    17. John Page, 2012. "Can Africa Industrialise?-super- †," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(suppl_2), pages -124, January.
    18. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Carballo, Jerónimo & Cusolito, Ana, 2017. "Roads, exports and employment: Evidence from a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 21-39.
    19. Corden, W. Max., 1997. "Trade Policy and Economic Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780198775348.
    20. Diaz-Bonilla, Eugenio & Reca, Lucio, 2000. "Trade and agroindustrialization in developing countries: trends and policy impacts," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 219-229, September.
    21. Jean-François Arvis & Robin Carruthers & Graham Smith & Christopher Willoughby, 2011. "Connecting Landlocked Developing Countries to Markets : Trade Corridors in the 21st Century," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2286.
    22. Adam Simpson & Susan Park, 2013. "The Asian Development Bank as a Global Risk Regulator in Myanmar," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(10), pages 1858-1871, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Narayanan, Suresh, 2018. "Economic corridors and regional development: The Malaysian experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Zainizam Zakariya & Kristinn Hermanssons & Kho Yin Yin & Noor Fazlin Mohamed Noor, 2019. "Regional Economic Growth in Malaysia: Does Aggregate Overqualification Matter?," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(5), pages 139-156, December.
    3. Anthony E. Boardman & Mark Moore & Aidan Vining, 2020. "Financing and Funding Approaches for Establishment, Governance and Regulatory Oversight of the Canadian Northern Corridor," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 13(25), October.
    4. Goldmann, Kathrin & Wessel, Jan, 2020. "TEN-T corridors – Stairway to heaven or highway to hell?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 240-258.
    5. A S M Abdul Quium, 2019. "Transport Corridors for Wider Socio–Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-23, September.
    6. Ieva Meidutė-Kavaliauskienė & Gitana Dudzevičiūtė & Nijolė Maknickienė & Aidas Vasilis Vasiliauskas, 2020. "The relation between aging of population and sustainable development of EU countries," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(3), pages 2026-2042, March.
    7. Peter Warr & Archanun Kohpaiboon, 2018. "Explaining Thailand’s Automotive Manufacturing Success," Departmental Working Papers 2018-02, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    8. Jain, Manisha & Jehling, Mathias, 2020. "Analysing transport corridor policies: An integrative approach to spatial and social disparities in India," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Chenxi Li & Kening Wu & Xiangyu Gao, 2020. "Manufacturing industry agglomeration and spatial clustering: Evidence from Hebei Province, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 2941-2965, April.
    10. Jain, Manisha & Korzhenevych, Artem & Basu, Anurima Mukherjee, 2021. "Integrating spatial development with infrastructure provision along an envisioned transport corridor: A conceptual framework and its application to India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Navid Khan & Riaz Ahmad & Ke Xing, 2018. "China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Regional Development, Employment Opportunities and Policy Challenges," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(1), pages 12-23, June.
    12. Navid Khan & Riaz Ahmad & Ke Xing, 2018. "China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Regional Development, Employment Opportunities and Policy Challenges," Global Political Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(1), pages 12-23, June.
    13. Kui Ming Tiong & Ming Yu Cheng & Chee Keong Choong, 2021. "Investment climate and foreign direct investment in Malaysia: firm‐level evidence," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 35(1), pages 108-119, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julian Donaubauer & Alexander Glas & Birgit Meyer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2018. "Disentangling the impact of infrastructure on trade using a new index of infrastructure," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(4), pages 745-784, November.
    2. Mehmet Guney Celbis & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2015. "Infrastructure and the International Export Performance of Turkish Regions," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Amitrajeet A Batabyal & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), THE REGION AND TRADE New Analytical Directions, chapter 11, pages 319-350, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Celbis, Mehmet Güney & Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2013. "How big is the impact of infrastructure on trade? Evidence from meta-analysis," MERIT Working Papers 2013-032, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Faheem Ur Rehman & Yibing Ding & Abul Ala Noman & Muhammad Asif Khan, 2020. "The Nexus Between Infrastructure and Export: An Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 12(2), pages 141-157, May.
    5. Hallonsten, Jan Simon & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2016. "A semi-endogenous growth model for developing countries with public factors, imported capital goods, and limited export demand," MERIT Working Papers 2016-004, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Donaubauer, Julian & Glas, Alexander & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2015. "Infrastructure and trade: A gravity analysis for major trade categories using a new index of infrastructure," Kiel Working Papers 2016, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Léopold BIARDEAU & Anne BORING, 2017. "L’impact de l’aide au développement sur les flux commerciaux entre pays donateurs et pays récipiendaires," Working Paper 464d860e-562e-4ae7-98f5-1, Agence française de développement.
    8. Bernard Hoekman & Anirudh Shingal, 2020. "Aid for trade and international transactions in goods and services," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 320-340, May.
    9. Wessel, Jan, 2019. "Evaluating the transport-mode-specific trade effects of different transport infrastructure types," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 42-57.
    10. Takumi Naito, 2016. "Aid for Trade and Global Growth," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 1178-1201, November.
    11. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Iyer, Harish, 2021. "Effect of Aid for Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Utilization of Unilateral Trade Preferences offered by the QUAD countries," EconStor Preprints 238211, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. JunYun Kim & Hongshik Lee & Joonhyung Lee, 2022. "Does Aid for Trade Promote Vertical Specialization?," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 127-158, June.
    13. Navid Khan & Riaz Ahmad & Ke Xing, 2018. "China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Regional Development, Employment Opportunities and Policy Challenges," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(1), pages 12-23, June.
    14. Patricia Sourdin & Richard Pomfret, 2012. "Trade Facilitation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14596.
    15. Chen Shen, 2023. "The Impact of Infrastructure Development on China–ASEAN Trade-Evidence from ASEAN," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-11, February.
    16. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Aid for Trade and sectoral employment diversification in recipient-countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 265-295, May.
    17. Hyo Won Lee & Youngwan Kim, 2020. "Impacts of tangible and intangible elements of Aid for Trade on the globalisation of developing countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 2153-2171, August.
    18. Abiola Abidemi Akinsanya, 2020. "Understanding the Role of Aid for Trade in Enhancing Corridor Development and Regional Integration in West Africa: Lessons and Policy Directions," Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development, in: Gbadebo O.A. Odularu & Mena Hassan & Musibau Adetunji Babatunde (ed.), Fostering Trade in Africa, pages 183-211, Springer.
    19. Yuanhong Hu & Min Jiang & Sheng Sun & Yixin Dai, 2022. "Does Trade Facilitation Promote Export Technological Sophistication? Evidence From the European Transition Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    20. Konté,Maty & Kouame,Wilfried Anicet Kouakou & Mensah,Emmanuel Buadi, 2021. "Structural Reforms and Productivity Growth in Developing Countries : Intra- or Inter-Reallocation Channel ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9733, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic corridor; Malaysia; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • O21 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Planning Models; Planning Policy
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:adbewp:0520. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Orlee Velarde (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eradbph.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.