An alternative approach to identify key industries: issues to selection criteria

Abstract

Within a process of modeling exercise, this study aimed to understand appropriate selection criteria to identify key industries. There are many key sector identification linkage measures in the subject matter and sensitivity issue among them can be tricky because many of these measures differ only slightly but can result in outcomes that are quite dissimilar. With this background, we proposed an alternate approach that helps to resolve this issue. The proposed approach utilizes in this study by five sub-methods and high degree of the frequency of their occurrences in sub-methods to determine the key sectors. The study approach is applied to Malaysia as the public sector investment remains a large share in the national economy, like other developing countries, and the correct identification is still a challenge for sectoral planning. The experiences from this study can be used to guide appropriate public investment in Malaysia and elsewhere with similar economic forms.

Keywords:

• key sector identification
• selection criteria
• investment
• policy challenge
• forward and backward linkages
• input-output analysis

JEL Classification:

• O14
• C67
• F21
• R11

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abul Quasem Al-Amin

Abul Quasem Al-AMIN is currently an Associate Professor at International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. His research interest includes, environmental modelling, economic sustainability, modelling on optimal pollution taxation for environmental aspects, ecological economics and economics of climate change. He is currently associated with Green Growth Modelling Forum (C2GMF), Green Growth Inventory and Research Centre, South Korea, Asia Pacific Network on Global Climate Change (APN), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan, and has a particular interest on the connections between environmental management, sustainability, climate and human behaviour.

Abdul Hamid Jaafar

Abdul Hamid JAAFAR is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, National University of Malaysia. His research interest includes on welfare economics, external shocks and impact on food price increase, economic behavior modeling, investment policy challenge, estimation of backward and forward linkages and industrial policy modeling. He has more than 20 years of research experience on welfare issue and policy related economic modeling. He is attached with fundamental research with the Ministry of higher education in Malaysia.