Productivity Convergence of High-Tech Automotive Industry in Asian

Abstract

This study is attempting to study the convergence of high-technology productivity of the automotive industry in Asia. This study uses time series data collected from 10 Asian countries from 2002-2016. In addition, this study was tested using the panel method proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007a), to identify whether the convergence of automotive technology high-tech productivity convergence or divergence. The results for full panel convergence in this study show divergence. However, in this study there were three convergence clubs found. The first clubs are Japan, South Korea and Thailand, the second club is Indonesia and Iran while the third club is Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. This study suggests that governments need to play an important role to implement good policies to attract more Asian countries to work with each other. This study can be summarized that economies in Asian countries experience different levels of development and the shift in economic behaviour is very different among Asian countries.