Asian Storm: The Economic Crisis Examined [Hardcover]

Philippe Ries (Author), Peter Starr (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

In the wake of the crash of East Asia's economy, it is time for a frank discussion of the strategy for correcting the flaws in policy and infrastructure that undercut Asia's economic engine and for rebuilding its financial resources. Here, in absorbing detail, is an analysis not only of what went wrong and how it affected Japan and the other economies of new Asia, but how they can recover and become strong again. Philippe Ris, the economic and political correspondent for Agence France-Presse stationed in Tokyo, brings his singular expertise to a subject that continues to fascinate economists and businesspeople worldwide. Philippe Ris, the economic and political correspondent for Agence France-Presse, is stationed in Tokyo. He also covers related economic and political issues for neighboring Asian countries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Concise and fast moving" -- International Herald Tribune

About the Author

Peter Starr, the Kuala Lumpur bureau chief for Agence France-Presse, has also served as the wire service's associate deputy bureau chief and economic correspondent in Tokyo, and regional economic editor for Asia Pacific.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804832358
• ISBN-13: 978-0804832359
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,295,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced view, January 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Asian Storm: The Economic Crisis Examined (Hardcover)

The book is a translation of the original written in French in 1998 that I read at the time Asia was still sorting out its most immediate problems. Philippe Ries is a privileged witness and he offers a witness' account of the crisis, what caused it, how it evolved and how it is likely to affect the rest of the world. It is very informative. Ries deals with the lessons to be learned from the crisis in a more constructive way than many of the books hastily written on the same topic in the past three years. It is a rare view from a European writer, perhaps less prone than most to gauge Asia against ultra-liberal standards. Above all, Ries' book is eminently readable even for people not particularly versed in the intricacies of macroeconomics or finance.

3.0 out of 5 stars yeseterday's news, October 1, 2005

By 

Declan Hayes "Declan Hayes" (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Asian Storm: The Economic Crisis Examined (Hardcover)

The key to this book is in the acknowledgments, where Riés thanks his colleagues in Agence France-Presse (AFP) for their help. Riés was AFP's Tokyo correspondent and Starr was his equivalent in Kuala Lumpur. Although the journalistic sources are clearly evident from beginning to end, they shine through most clearly in tiny vignettes, which speckle every chapter of the tome. One of these has Britain's Prince Charles sailing out of Hong Kong on the royal yacht Brittania with the Union Jack in tow, signifying the end of empire. As Prince Charles, the Brittania and the story of Hong Kong's hand over faded away from view, Riés and his AFP colleagues had other things to worry about. Chief of these was the gathering storms of the Asian financial crisis. The image of Riés, then stationed in Hong Kong, frantically phoning up the worldwide sources that journalists depend on to cover a global story such as this, jumps from the pages. Because of the international dimension of the Asian storm, the phones must have been very busy indeed.

Riés captures this international angle to an uncanny degree. As well as recounting the importance of the Japanese yen and American dollar to fueling the crisis, he describes much of the human effects of the crash as well. We hear of life savings lost and, less tragically perhaps, of top Thai stockbrokers reduced to selling sandwiches to make ends meet. More interestingly from an academic viewpoint, he has a go at some of the world's major Asian experts, MIT's Paul Krugman being a case in point.

Krugman is, of course, a prolific writer and it is interesting to see a journalist's take on his more weird pronouncements. Krugman, for example, compares Singapore to Stalin's Soviet Union and says that the Singaporean model for economic growth is as flawed as Stalin's was. Riés' informative book is to be applauded for bringing bizarre statements like that to our attention. Whatever the faults of Singapore might be, they are in no way comparable to Stalin's gulag. Most people, if given the chance, would have fled Stalin's evil empire. Most Asians, if given the opportunity, would gladly work in Singapore.

That is certainly the case for the citizens of nearby Indonesia, who remain at the center of the Asian storm. Interestingly enough in this respect, Michel Camdessus, the managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, lavishes praise on the book in the dust jacket. Although the praise is warranted, the source of that praise has to be questioned. Indonesia was the IMF's star pupil. Because the IMF ignored - and, many argue, actually financially underwrote - the blatant corruption Suharto epitomized, the praise, though welcome, leads to at least one pertinent question. What is the IMF doing to stem the sectarian pogroms the Asian storm and the IMF's policies helped to spark?

Indonesia represents the dark but all too real side of the Asian crisis. And there is no guarantee that the bloodshed will be confined to Indonesia. Riés also gives the more xenophobic pronouncements of Malaysia's charismatic leader, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, due prominence. Mahathir is in the process of nation building, of trying to make Malaysia an economic force. This is undoubtedly a difficult job, made harder by the loss of confidence the Asian crisis provoked. Growing sectarian restlessness in Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern islands of the Philippines do not portend well for the region's future. The storm, as Mahathir well knows, is not over yet.

As long as Asia lacks a regional financial anchor, this instability and concomitant bloodshed will remain and most likely spread beyond Indonesia. Although the obvious choice for such a stabilizing anchor is Japan, there are, as the author points out, major problems with Japan playing a similar role in Asia that Germany, the Netherlands and similar countries play in Europe. In Asia, the economic disparities between Japan and the other Asian tigers is just too immense to be bridged in the near future. Although the book describes the very real financial and economic pain Japan's citizens experienced as a result of the Japanese bubble bursting, this is nothing to what people in Thailand, South Korea and most especially Indonesia have gone through over the same period. Although this is small consolation to the victims of Japan's crash, there is a glimmer of hope in all of this. The policies of the IMF stand discredited, and the pronouncements of experts like Krugman have similarly fallen into disrepute. A new paradigm, to use the cliché, is needed. For this to eventuate, fresh voices must be heard. The words and the methodologies of Philippe Riés and his AFP colleagues are part of that process. Unless Asia's leaders heed their words, the imperfect storm Riés describes will be replaced by a veritable inferno.