The Role of Information and Communications Technology to Strengthen Bilateral Trade Flows of ASEAN-5 using Random Effects Quantile Regression

Abstract

ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines) is an economic
powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region. Singapore is one of the developed countries, while the
other four are the emerging market countries. One of the economic strengths of ASEAN-5 is
sustained from international trade. ASEAN-5's export performance in the world continues to
increase yearly. During the period 2000-2018, the United States (US) and China became the
main export destination countries of ASEAN-5. The growing development of ICT is indicated can
increase the export volume of ASEAN-5 to these countries. This study analyzes the role of ICT on
ASEAN-5 exports to the US and China in 2000 until 2018. The method used is the Random
Effects Quantile Regression because the research uses a time-invariant variable, and there is a
violation of normality and homoscedasticity assumption. The results show that ICT in each
quantile give different effect to ASEAN-5 exports to the US and China. ASEAN-5 countries are
expected to be able to increase ICT, especially internet usage, in conducting international trade.
It is also useful for marketing superior local products from the hard-to-reach area, especially in
archipelagic countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines