In the tradition of the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS), our research publications make a distinctive contribution to the understanding of economic development in Asia by evaluating and tracking competitiveness for the ten ASEAN member states annually since 2000 through combining leading-edge methodologies with an extensive dataset. In this third edition, the competitiveness ranking and simulation study for ASEAN-10 are improved and updated with 121 indicators across four environments. An in-depth assessment of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) offers important implications for future integration initiatives in the broader Asia Pacific region. Novel empirical frameworks are also applied to provide an estimation of annual agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in eight ASEAN economies and to shed light on the drivers of growth in the travel and tourism industry in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Sample Chapter(s)
Foreword (45 KB)
Chapter 1: The ASEAN Economic Community by 2016? (363 KB)
Contents:
- The ASEAN Economic Community by 2016?
- 2015 Update on Annual Competitiveness Analysis for ASEAN-10
- How Productive is the Agricultural Sector in ASEAN?
- Drivers of Growth in the Travel and Tourism Industry in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore: A Geweke Causality Analysis
- Concluding Remarks and Future Research Agenda
Readership: Researchers and advance graduates studying ASEAN developmental economics.
"Strong robust research establishments such as ACI help to elevate knowledge of Asian markets and their potential competitiveness as a measure of market maturity. For instance, ACI's research into competitiveness has helped to shed light on market maturity in ASEAN."
Mr Heng Swee Keat
Minister for Finance, Singapore
"The extensive research work undertaken by ACI provides an important and insightful complement to the research done by CIEM, contributing toward evidence-based and astute policy formulation in ASEAN in general, and in Vietnam in particular."
Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung
President, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Vietnam
Tan Khee Giap is a Co-Director of the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) and Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Singapore National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation. Upon graduating with a PhD from University of East Anglia, England, in 1987 under the Overseas Research Scheme awarded by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom. He joined the banking sector as a treasury manager, there after he taught at the Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore, 1990–1993. Dr Tan joined Nanyang Technological University in 1993 and was Associate Dean, Graduate Studies Office, 2007–2009. Dr Tan has consulted extensively with the various government ministries, statutory boards and government linked companies of Singapore government. He has also served as a consultant to international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank Institute, United Nations Industrial Development Group, World Gold Council, ASEAN Secretariat, Central Policy Unit of Hong Kong, Kerzner International, Las Vegas Sands and Marina Bay Sands. Dr Tan is the lead author for twenty books serves as journal editors and published widely in international refereed journals. His current research interests include econometric forecasting, cost of living index, global liveable cities index, ease of doing business index and competitiveness analysis on sub-national economies of China, India, Indonesia and ASEAN. Dr Tan was Deputy President of the Singapore Economic Society, 2004. He served in the 2002 Economic Review Committee (ERC), served as the Deputy Chairman of the IPS Forum for Economic Restructuring (IFER) in 2003 and served as a member of the Resource Panel of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport and Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade since 2007. Dr Tan has extensively advised and guided multinational corporations leading to public listings especially those companies from Mainland China and Taiwan. He is also currently an Independent Director of the publicly listed Artivision, BreadTalk Group, Boustead Projects and TEE Land.
Nguyen Le Phuong Anh is a Research Fellow at the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS). Phuong Anh received her Bachelor (Honours) degree in Economics from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and a Master of Science degree in Development Studies from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom. Prior to joining ACI, she gained extensive experience working in the financial sector with OCBC, DBS and Bloomberg L. P. in Singapore, and additionally held a research internship position at the Mekong Institute in Khon Kaen, Thailand. At ACI, she co-authored two books titled 2014 Annual Indices for Expatriates and Ordinary Residents on Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for World's Major Cities and 2014 Annual Competitiveness Ranking and Simulation Study for ASEAN-10 and Development Strategies to Enhance Asia Economic Connectivity, and an editorial opinion on Vietnam for the Straits Times. She is currently coordinating the annual competitiveness study of the ASEAN-10 economies. Phuong Anh's research interests include economic development policy, international political economy, ASEAN economies and applied econometrics.
Sasidaran Gopalan is a Research Fellow at the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS). Prior to joining ACI, he was based in Hong Kong as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies and HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Dr Gopalan completed his PhD in Public Policy, specialising in International Finance and Policy at the School of Policy, Government and International Affairs (SPGIA), George Mason University, USA. He obtained his Bachelors and Masters' degrees in Economics from Loyola College (Chennai, India) and Madras School of Economics (Chennai, India), respectively. After spending a year at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) post-graduation as a Research Associate, he was based at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at National University of Singapore (NUS) for two years doing research work on international economics and policy issues concerning South Asia. He has published two co-authored books with leading publishing houses, several academic articles in refereed international journals, book chapters in edited volumes, a number of policy briefs as well as op-eds for leading global financial dailies. Dr Gopalan's research interests span the broad fields of financing for development and international macroeconomic and financial policies with respect to emerging and developing economies in Asia. More specific topics include an empirical analysis of financial openness and international capital flows, financial development, financial inclusion, foreign aid, remittances as well as international trade and migration issues. His research has a heavy empirical and policy flavour. At ACI, he is the lead coordinator for the flagship projects on India, specifically relating to competitiveness analysis and ease of doing business. He also supervises and contributes to the formulation as well as implementation of several empirical research projects, targeted towards journal publications and broader policy outreach.
Luu Nguyen Trieu Duong is a Research Assistant at the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS). Luu graduated from NUS in June 2015 with a second upper class honours Bachelor degree in Economics. Luu was a recipient of the ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship and was placed on the Dean's List and Dean's Scholar List on separate occasions during his course of study. At ACI, he focuses on projects related to ASEAN economies, research on cost of living for expatriates and ordinary citizens in major cities around the world, growth slowdown analysis by income thresholds for Asian economies and multi-country econometric modelling. Luu's research interests include growth and development, ASEAN economies, applied econometrics and economics of aging.
