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.