Do CLMV countries catch up with the older ASEAN members in terms of income level?

ABSTRACT

This article examined whether Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were catching up in terms of real per capita Gross Domestic Product with the older six Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The findings indicated that Cambodia succeeded in reaching Indonesia’s income level and Vietnam was catching up with Indonesia and the Philippines. However, the income gap between Laos and Myanmar and the older ASEAN members was not reduced. These findings have some policy implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Income convergence
• ASEAN
• economic integration
• CLMV countries

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• F15
• C22

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.