The Asian Currency Crisis

In a fascinating account of the financial disaster which engulfed Southeast and East Asia in 1997, Gerald Tan explains the causes, events, reactions to, and effects of, the Asian currency crisis. Starting with the crash of the Thai Baht, Professor Tan traces the chain of events and details the economic, social and political consequences in all the countries involved. The responses of the major economic institutions like the World Bank and the IMF are described. He also includes a chapter on the Asian economic miracle in the years before the crash, and asks whether that sort of growth was sustainable anyway. The final chapters deal with the lessons to be learnt and the possible paths to recovery. This is essential reading for anyone in the fields of finance, economics or politics, and it is also interesting and accessible to the lay-reader.