Conclusion

Economic thought in Indonesia and Malaysia has, in the past, evolved in response to the countries' colonization experiences and subsequent post-independent developmental challenges.

Early economic writings were pre-occupied by similar problems associated with the inherit­ance of colonial economies — post-war reconstruction and ownership. The ethnic dimension in development — involving an inequality in wealth between the indigenous and ethnic Chinese communities — has featured prominently in both countries. The resulting debates and others in the 1950s∕1960s have often pitched professional economists (adhering to conventional economic thinking) against other non-economist groups (nationalists, politicians). After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, there was perhaps greater convergence as economists have begun looking more deeply into the role of institutions and politics in generating and sustaining long-term growth.