Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Things Fall Apart
- 2 Japan and the Asian Crisis
- 3 The Beam in Our Eyes
- 4 Banking: The Weakest Link
- 5 Washington Consensus and the IMF
- 6 Thailand: The Karma of Globalization
- 7 South Korea: Strong Body, Weak Heart
- 8 Malaysia: The Country That Went Its Own Way
- 9 Indonesia: From Economic to Political Crisis
- 10 Hong Kong: Unusual Times Need Unusual Action
- 11 China: Rise of the Dragon
- 12 From Crisis to Integration
- 13 The New World of Financial Engineering
- 14 What's Wrong with Financial Regulation?
- 15 The Global Financial Meltdown
- 16 A Crisis of Governance
- From Asian to Global Crisis: Chronology of Notable Events
- Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Japan and the Asian Crisis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Things Fall Apart
- 2 Japan and the Asian Crisis
- 3 The Beam in Our Eyes
- 4 Banking: The Weakest Link
- 5 Washington Consensus and the IMF
- 6 Thailand: The Karma of Globalization
- 7 South Korea: Strong Body, Weak Heart
- 8 Malaysia: The Country That Went Its Own Way
- 9 Indonesia: From Economic to Political Crisis
- 10 Hong Kong: Unusual Times Need Unusual Action
- 11 China: Rise of the Dragon
- 12 From Crisis to Integration
- 13 The New World of Financial Engineering
- 14 What's Wrong with Financial Regulation?
- 15 The Global Financial Meltdown
- 16 A Crisis of Governance
- From Asian to Global Crisis: Chronology of Notable Events
- Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Success is 99 percent failure.
~ Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor CompanyThe Chinese Qing Dynasty statesman and philosopher Zeng Guofan used to say, ‘In life, start at the big picture, but work at the details’. No understanding of the 1997–1998 Asian crisis could be complete without understanding Japan, which had a GDP and total financial assets about double those of the rest of Asia put together in 1996, the year before the Asian crisis began. Indeed, the fate of the Asian economy was inextricably tied to that of Japan, because it was the first Asian economy to become a member of the industrial countries. The largest economy in Asia is the second largest economy in the world, next to the United States and excluding the EU as a common national entity.
There are two common critiques of the Asian crisis, typically focussing on the four worst crisis-hit economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. The first is that the victims are to blame, due to their own mistakes of bad risk management and crony capitalism. Notably, this was a predominant view in Washington, especially at the beginning of the crisis. The second is that Asia suffered a banking panic. Both views have elements of truth, but we need to take a step back into history to see how the big picture reflects the small details.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From Asian to Global Financial CrisisAn Asian Regulator's View of Unfettered Finance in the 1990s and 2000s, pp. 44 - 70Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009