Income Inequality and Poverty in Malaysia

Book excerpt: This thorough analysis of Malaysia's economic expansion evaluates the success of the government's New Economic Policy (NEP), which was designed to promote national unity by reducing poverty as well as by loosening the link between ethnicity and economic function. The first comprehensive analysis of income distribution trends after the inauguration of the NEP, the study also considers interethnic, urban-rural, and regional variations over time. Although there have been significant reductions in poverty and income inequality, Hashim uses previously unpublished data to show that both are still rampant.