Testing for contagion in ASEAN exchange rates

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 brought to the attention of member countries of the Association of South East Asian Countries (ASEAN-5) (comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) the need for closer monetary co-operation. Central to the OCA literature is the nature and symmetry of underlying economic disturbances. If the economic disturbances are similar across the countries in a region, then the costs of establishing a common currency area are likely to be small. As the presence of contagion necessarily means there is an increase in the correlation of shocks experienced within a region, this paper examines the suitability of establishing a common currency area for ASEAN-5 from the perspective of contagion. In order to select the breakpoints for contagion endogenously, a modified sequential dummy variable method is developed. The empirical results show that contagion is present between all country pairs in ASEAN-5, which indicates that the degree of correlation among the ASEAN-5 economies has increased during the Asian financial crisis.