Is Inequality Really Declining in Malaysia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3985809
AutoresHwok-Aun Lee (0000-0003-4513-5235, ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, autor correspondente), Muhammed Abdul Khalid (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
Ano2020
Volume50
Fascículo1
Páginas14-35
Data de publicação2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2018.1551560
OpenAlexW2904129102
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas12

Official statistics report rapidly declining household income inequality in Malaysia during the 2000s. However, this phenomenon has passed unnoticed and unexplained, while public discourse widely asserts that inequality has either risen or remained high. In particular, salaries and wealth are perceived to be increasingly concentrated at the top. Difficulties in accessing national income survey data necessitate exploration of other data sources, which permit this article to investigate trends in personal earnings and wealth inequality. Recent information on retirement savings, as well as public sector employment and car sales, indicate earnings rising moderately or holding steady, marked by higher growth in the uppermost segments. On wealth ownership, housing sales record high growth at the top and lagging growth in the bottom half; while unit trust fund ownership suggests similar trends, particularly within the majority Bumiputera population. Our findings, while exhibiting gaps, shed some light on the state of inequality and broadly concur with public perceptions of rising or persistently high inequality. This study also underscores the multi-dimensionality of inequality and the importance of researching structural inequalities in labour and asset markets

Asset (computer security · Demographic economics · Earnings · Earnings growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Inequality · Labour economics · Lagging · Population · Sociology · Economic Theory and Policy · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Income, Poverty, and Inequality