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This study employs advanced modelling to assess the effectiveness of Malaysia’s current energy policies in achieving a low-carbon future. By optimising a 100% renewable energy mix, including energy storage, the research identifies pathways to decarbonise the power sector while minimising costs. These findings will inform the development of future policies.

This study employs the Stockholm Environment Institute-developed Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) and Next Energy Modeling system for Optimization (NEMO) to construct and optimise a comprehensive Malaysian power sector model. The model encompasses both electricity supply, including diverse electricity generation sources and demand across key sectors. Three scenarios – existing policy, optimised existing policy and more ambitious policy (near-zero emissions) – are analysed.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is the dominant technology, but realising its full potential requires significant grid upgrades. While natural gas expansion underpins Malaysia’s decarbonisation strategy, solar and storage offer a cleaner and potentially cost-effective alternative. Rapid technological advancements in clean energy increase stranded asset risk for new gas power plants. Malaysia’s abundant bioenergy resources need more tapping. This can contribute to decarbonisation and rural development. Transitioning to a fully renewable grid necessitates substantial investments in energy storage and grid infrastructure. While falling battery costs and regional interconnection can mitigate costs, careful consideration of potential disruptions and cost fluctuations is essential for resilience.

Energy sector modelling results are inherently dependent on input assumptions, such as future technology costs, resource availability and fossil fuel prices. These factors can be highly uncertain. While this study did not conduct sensitivity analyses to explore how variations in these assumptions might affect the results (e.g. cost variations across scenarios, technology mix fluctuations), the core findings provide valuable insights into potential decarbonisation pathways for Malaysia’s power sector. Future studies could build upon this work by incorporating sensitivity analyses to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how key results might change under a wider range of future possibilities.

This study co-optimises a 100% renewable energy mix for Malaysia, incorporating a comprehensive range of renewable resources, battery and pumped hydro storage. The research also provides a unique perspective on the interplay of philosophical underpinnings, psychological maturity and energy policy.

Deposit insurance is a key element in modern banking, as it guarantees the financial safety of deposits at depository financial institutions. It is necessary to have at least a dual fair premium rate system based on creditworthiness of financial institutions, as considering singular premium system for all banks will have moral hazard. This paper aims to develop theoretical and empirical model for calculating dual fair premium rates.

The definition of a fair premium rate in this paper is a rate that covers the operational expenditures of the deposit insuring organization, provides it with sufficient funds to enable it to pay a certain percentage share of deposit amounts to depositors in case of bank default and provides it with sufficient funds as precautionary reserves. To identify and classify healthier and more stable banks, the authors use credit rating methods that use two major dimensional reduction techniques. For forecasting nonperforming loans (NPLs), the authors develop a model that can capture both macro shocks and idiosyncratic shocks to financial institutions in a vector error correction model.

The response of NPLs/loans to macro shocks and idiosyncratic innovations shows that using a model with macro variables only is insufficient, as it is possible that under favorable economic conditions, some banks show negative performance due to bank level reasons such as mismanagement or vice versa. The final results show that deposit insurance premium rate needs to be vary based on banks’ creditworthiness.

The results provide interesting insight for financial authorities to set fair deposit insurance premium rate. A high premium rate reduces the capital adequacy of individual financial institutions, which endangers the stability of the financial system; a low premium rate will reduce the security of the financial system.

The 1997‐1998 Asian financial crises underscored the dangers of open capital accounts in developing nations that have weak macroeconomic policies or poorly regulated financial systems. Most developing Asian countries responded to the crisis by adopting the orthodox remedies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund. These included liberalised capital accounts, floating exchange rates and tighter fiscal and monetary policies designed to restore investor confidence. Malaysia departed from this orthodoxy. In September 1998 it imposed controls on capital account transactions, pegged its currency to the US dollar, cut interest rates and reflated its economy. The literature suggests that even temporary capital account controls entail serious economic risks for developing countries. However, the undue hardships imposed by the IMF regimen suggest that it is time to re‐evaluate the role of currency controls in mitigating the destabilising effects of unfettered capital flows in developing countries that have poorly regulated financial systems. This article analyses the effectiveness of Malaysia’s 1998 capital controls by evaluating Malaysia’s post‐1998 economic progress. Its goal is to inform the debate concerning the benefit‐risk tradeoffs of currency controls in developing countries.

The last decade of this century has witnessed the transition of the formerly centrally planned economies of Europe and Asia to market economies, a process affecting some 1.7 billion people in 28 countries. While much agreement exists on the sorts of reform measures required, disagreement exists over their sequencing. The economic and social performance of these transition economies has varied considerably and for a variety of reasons, however China’s performance, in particular, has been outstanding. The paper reviews the reform measures required for economic transition, and alternative sequencing approaches to these reforms. It conducts an overview of the performance of the transition economies, with focus placed upon the experience of the Chinese economy. An analysis of China’s approach to economic reform, its key components, major outcomes and outstanding issues are discussed. Key lessons to be derived for other transition economies from China’s experience are also presented.

Nearly a century ago, Max Weber studied Chinese lineage system and argued that the power of the patriarchal sib impeded the emergence of industrial capitalism in China. Recently, Martin Whyte re-evaluated Weber's thesis on the basis of development studies and argued that, rather than an obstacle, Chinese family pattern and lineage ties may have facilitated the economic growth in China since the 1980s. This paper empirically tests the competing hypotheses by focusing on the relationship between lineage networks and the development of rural enterprises. Analyses of village-level data show that lineage networks, measured by proportion of most common surnames, have large positive effects on the count of entrepreneurs and total workforce size of private enterprises in rural China.