The Policy Brief suggests initiatives that poorer ASEAN member governments should take to stimulate technological upgrading of firms at the bottom with a focus on innovation, and discusses the governance framework of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in ASEAN. With an emphasis on technology as...

This paper empirically examines differential impacts of globalisation on plant size among plants with different characteristics, including initial plant size, import and export status, and ownership. After accounting for other characteristics, results of this analysis suggest that both import...

The main purpose of this study is to examine whether the relationship between exporting and productivity differs across firm sizes in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. A firm-level panel data from the Study on Knowledge Content in Economic Sectors in Malaysia (MyKE) is used in the study....

Movements of skilled labour in ASEAN have been largely from the lower income labour surplus economies to the higher income labour deficit economies in response to employment and remuneration differentials. The AEC Blueprint includes the objective of free flow of skilled labour to facilitate...

Financial integration has many potential economic benefits. However, it also carries potential risks. In ASEAN, since its financial sector is generally bank-dominated, the banking sector is a key driver in the financial integration process. The ASEAN Banking Integration Framework (ABIF) aims to...

Addressing technical barriers to trade is a key priority of ASEAN as part of trade facilitation in achieving an integrated economy under the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and in building an effective and competitive Economic Community beyond 2015. Standards and Conformance assessment...

Using a large firm-level dataset from the Chinese manufacturing industry, this paper studies the productivity gap and productivity convergence between large and small firms in China. We find that small firms are less productive relative to large firms, but the productivity gap became smaller...

The structure of this report is still similar to the previous versions in view of the application of similar methodology but it should be noted that one of the important accomplishments of this research study is the development of energy efficiency targets for the countries that did not have...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will stage its ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia, on 3-6 December 2013. The meeting comes at a critical juncture for the multilateral trade body, long mired in the Doha Round stalemate. Beyond offering a critical first test at...

The most immediate effects of energy price increase ripples in many production systems is traceable from the intermediate demand sector of an economy. In particular, the production of agriculture, manufacturing, services and several other sectors portray significant energy utilization in their...