Total Factor Productivity Shock and Economic Growth in Selected Asean+3 Countries: A New Evidence Using a Panel Var

A comparison between countries shows that there is a difference in terms of economic growth achievement across nations. This difference is due to the contribution of capital growth, labor, and total factor productivity (TFP). Although the use of capital and labor plays a vital role in the production, the contribution of TFP growth is also indispensable, as it saves production costs. Nevertheless, in 1995-2000, most countries have experienced a negative growth of TFP in which can affect its contribution to economic growth. Therefore, the focal point of this study is to analyze the impact of TFP growth shock on economic growth in selected ASEAN+3 countries (i.e., Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, South Korea, and Japan), using the data set from 1981 to 2014. The study employed the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) method in analyzing the propagation of the shocks through impulse response function and variance decomposition. The main findings revealed that TFP growth shocks have a positive impact on economic growth. Besides, the results also showed that over the next ten years, the proportion of human capital variation would be more dominant in contributing to the economic growth for the selected ASEAN+3 countries. As the surge in TFP growth had a positive impact on economic growth, this finding indicated that each country needs to allocate more expenditure in the Research and Development (R&D) activities.