Economic and Financial Interconnections and Income Growth Convergence in Asia: A Real-Financial Nexus?

摘要

This article empirically examines economic and financial linkages for emerging Asian economies for the period 2000 to 2014. Taking a multivariate approach to measuring integration, we examine a number of measures of economic interconnections to investigate whether (and which) individual dimensions of these connections might drive economic integration. We also provide an empirical assessment of whether and how real and financial linkages drive income growth convergence. Our article finds two important results: First, interconnections between the ASEAN-5 countries are driven primarily by financial linkages while those for the larger countries in the region are driven by real linkages. Second, greater interconnections though prices tend to lead to greater income growth convergence.