Summary

The current economic crisis in East Asia is unprecedented in world economic history. It seemed the economic strength of the region, until very recently, would just keep growing. Now, the macroeconomic achievements of Asia are under threat and the economies of North America and Europe are feeling the results.

This book brings together the thoughts of leading experts on the Asian economy and provides a broad and thorough analysis of the situation. It provides case studies from fourteen countries in the region, how the crisis developed and affected them, and the response from governments. There are other non-country specific chapters with a strong theoretical content which address issues such as causation, how such a crisis should be handled, how it might be avoided in the future, and the likely implications for on-going deregulatory and other economic reforms.

This is an important authoritative account of one of the most extraordinary economic events and provides a broad synthesis of case studies and theoretical approaches from a variety of researchers with an intimate knowledge of the region.

Choice Review

The economic crises that have recently swept across the Asian region came as a surprise to most social scientists, including those specializing in the region. This excellent collection of papers offers readers an analysis of the causes of and various responses to these crises, as well as discussions of future development prospects for the region. More specifically, the papers include case studies of the region-wide crisis, examining the specific conditions of crisis and policy responses in Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Other papers examine the way China, Vietnam, India, and Australia have weathered region-wide problems. There is an interesting comparison of the recent Mexican economic crisis with the Asian crises and an insightful paper arguing that the global economy has entered an era of financial fragility that requires new innovations in macroeconomic policy. Overall, this volume has a great deal to recommend it as a timely work providing a broad overview of the Asian economic crises and the way public policy has and should respond to such economic upheavals. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate through faculty collections. S. J. Gabriel; Mount Holyoke College