Governance Performance in Member States of ASEAN Economic Community and the Asian Tigers

This paper uses the difference-in-means method to assess governance performance in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community and the Asian Tigers. In addition, we utilize a parsimonious governance-induced growth model to identify countries where governance is growth-enhancing, growth-retarding or growth-neutral. The estimated results showed variations in governance performance in these countries. For example, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan exhibited functionally effective governance (FEG) in the six governance indicators while Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore showed FEG in five of the six governance indicators, but dysfunctional governance with respect to voice and accountability throughout the sample period.