Do real interest rates converge across East Asian countries based on China?

This study applies the sequential panel selection method (SPSM), proposed by Chortareas and Kapetanios (2009), to assess the non-stationary properties of the real interest rates relative to China for ten East Asian countries. SPSM can classify the whole panel into a group of stationary series and a group of non-stationary series. We clearly identify how many and which series in the panel are stationary processes and provide robust evidence to indicate that RIRP holds true for five countries. It implies that the choices and effectiveness of the monetary and fiscal policies in the East Asian economies will be highly influenced by external factors originating from China. Also, our findings point out that real interest rate convergence relative to China is mean reverting toward RIRP equilibrium values in a non-linear way.