The Currency Crisis in Southeast Asia

"Manuel Montes was one of the first to produce an academic book on the financial crisis in Southeast Asia.... The book is readable and refreshingly free of the wisdom of hindsight" (Asian Studies Review). "... this book is an enlightening ... look at the internal operation of the national financial systems of the five primary subjects of the 1997-1998 international currency movements. It is most appropriate for practicing international economists, international financial market analysts, and senior financial system policy analysts." Crossroads).

The deep currency crisis which erupted in the beginning of July 1997 among the rapidly growing economies of Southeast Asia raises the question: "Have the rapid rates of growth in the late 1980s and early 1990s mortgaged the economic futures of these economies?" This book examines the economic bases for the crisis and characterizes the nature of the policy weaknesses that led to the crisis. Drawing on the specific features of the crises in Thailand, Korea, and Indonesia and the pattern of contagion in the region, this Updated Edition suggests a list of global policy lessons that can be distilled from Asia's crisis.