Export-led Industrialisation, Employment and Equity: The Malaysian Case

Malaysia is undoubtedly a development success story. Over the past decade or so rapid economic growth through export-led industrialisation has been accompanied by rising living standards and improvement in the distribution of income, ameliorating the twin problems of poverty and racial imbalances. The key lesson to come from the Malaysian experience is that in a small open economy, the task of achieving the apparently conflicting objectives of growth and equity is facilitated by a long-term commitment to outward-oriented trade and industrial policies.