World Bank Group2014-12-312014-12-312014-12https://hdl.handle.net/10986/21057Malaysia has in many ways become a success story in shared prosperity. Shared prosperity means that all households experience income growth, but growth is higher for those households at the bottom of the distribution, a pattern that leads to lower inequality. In the past 40 years, Malaysia drew on its natural resources to nearly eradicate absolute poverty, from 49 percent in 1970 to 1 percent in 2014. The number of Malaysians vulnerable to falling into absolute poverty has also declined in this period. To accelerate Malaysia s transformation into a middle-class society, Malaysia may consider prioritizing reforms that: (i) close the educational achievement gaps at the post-secondary levels by compensating for family background, including pursuing universal pre-primary enrolment and otherpolicies to boost the quality of the poorest performing schools; (ii) provide more demand-driven post-secondary skills training for those already in the labor markets; (iii) create an integrated social safety net including both social insurance mechanisms to protect households against shocks and old age (for example by introducing unemployment insurance and redirecting subsidy savings to matching contributions to retirement accounts), and higher levels of social transfers (by consolidating, improving targeting, and increasing benefits of existing programs); and (iv) this safety net may be financed through more progressive tax policy (for example by reviewing the top marginal personal income tax rate and expanding the number of taxpayers).en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOADVANCED ECONOMIESAGRICULTURAL COMMODITYASSET CLASSESASSET PRICEASSET QUALITYBALANCE OF PAYMENTSBANKING SECTORBANKING SYSTEMBASIS POINTSBLUE CHIPSCAPITAL FLOWCAPITAL FLOWSCAPITAL FORMATIONCAPITAL INFLOWSCAPITAL MARKETSCAPITAL OUTFLOWSCAPITAL RATIOCAPITAL SECURITIESCASH FLOWCASH TRANSFERSCENTRAL BANKCOMMERCIAL BANKSCOMMODITIESCOMMODITYCOMMODITY EXPORTCOMMODITY EXPORTSCOMMODITY PRICESCONSUMER PRICE INFLATIONCONSUMERSCREDIBILITYCREDIT CARDSCREDIT GROWTHCURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCECURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUSDEBTDEBT LEVELSDEBT SECURITIESDEBT SECURITIES MARKETDEFICITSDEPOSITDEPOSITORDEPOSITSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICIESDIRECT INVESTMENTDISBURSEMENTSDIVIDENDDIVIDEND PAYMENTSDIVIDEND POLICYDIVIDENDSDOLLAR VALUEDOMESTIC CURRENCYDOMESTIC ECONOMYECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC COOPERATIONECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTSECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMICS RESEARCHEMERGING MARKETEMERGING MARKET ECONOMIESENTRY POINTEQUIPMENTEQUITIESEQUITY FINANCINGEQUITY FLOWSEQUITY INVESTMENTSEXCESS LIQUIDITYEXCHANGE RATEEXPENDITUREEXPENDITURESEXPORT GROWTHEXPORTERSFINANCESFINANCIAL ASSETSFINANCIAL RISKSFINANCIAL VOLATILITYFISCAL CONSOLIDATIONFISCAL POLICYFIXED CAPITALFIXED INVESTMENTFOOD PRICESFORECASTSFOREIGN CURRENCIESFOREIGN CURRENCYFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTSFOREIGN EQUITYFOREIGN EXCHANGEFOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVEFOREIGN HOLDINGSFOREIGN INVESTMENTFOREIGN PORTFOLIOFUND INFORMATIONFUTURESGDPGINI COEFFICIENTGLOBAL ECONOMIC PROSPECTSGLOBAL INVESTORSGLOBAL PORTFOLIOGLOBAL PORTFOLIOSGLOBAL RISKGLOBAL TRADEGOVERNMENT BONDGOVERNMENT BOND YIELDSGOVERNMENT DEBTGOVERNMENT DEBT SECURITIESGOVERNMENT SECURITIESGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATIONGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHOLDINGHOME COUNTRYHOME OWNERSHIPHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD WEALTHHOUSING LOANINCOMEINCOME GROUPSINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME MEASURESINCOME SHOCKSINCOME TAXINCOME TAXESINCOMESINEQUALITY MEASURESINFLATION RATEINFLATIONARY PRESSUREINFLATIONARY PRESSURESINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSINSTITUTIONAL INVESTORSINSURANCEINTEREST INCOMEINTEREST RATEINTEREST RATESINTEREST RATES ON MORTGAGEINTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONINTERNATIONAL FINANCEINTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATIONINTERNATIONAL RESERVESINTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTSINTERNATIONAL TRADEINVENTORIESINVESTMENT INCOMEINVESTMENT PROJECTSISLAMIC INSTRUMENTSISSUANCEISSUANCESLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLARGE-SCALE INVESTMENTLIQUIDITYLOCAL BUSINESSESMARKET PRICESMATURITYMICROENTERPRISESMIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIESMIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRYMONETARY FUNDMONETARY POLICYMORTGAGEMORTGAGE DEBTMORTGAGE LOANSNATIONAL INCOMENATURAL RESOURCESNET CAPITALNON-PERFORMING LOANSOIL PRICESOUTPUTOUTPUT GAPPENSIONPENSIONSPERSONAL INCOMEPORTFOLIOPORTFOLIO FLOWSPORTFOLIO INVESTMENTPOWER PARITYPRIVATE DEBTPRIVATE INVESTMENTPRODUCTIVE INVESTMENTSPROVIDENT FUNDPUBLIC INVESTMENTPUBLIC SECTOR DEFICITPURCHASING POWERQUALITY OF ASSETSREAL ESTATEREAL GDPREAL INTERESTREAL INTEREST RATESREMITTANCESRESERVERETURNRISK AVERSIONSAVINGSSECURITIES MARKETSHARE OF INVESTMENTSHORT-TERM EXTERNAL DEBTSKILLS SHORTAGESSOCIAL PROTECTIONSOCIAL SAFETY NETSTOCK MARKETSTOCK MARKET CAPITALIZATIONSTOCK PRICESTOCK PRICESSTOCKSSWAPSSYSTEMIC RISKTAXTAX COLLECTIONSTAX POLICYTAX RATETAX SYSTEMTAXATIONTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYTRADE BALANCETRADINGTREASURIESUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT RATEVOLATILITYWAGE GROWTHWAGESWORKING CAPITALWORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORSWORLD TRADE10.1596/21057