Tigers Tamed: The End of the Asian Miracle (Latitude 20 Books) [Paperback]

Robert Garran (Author)

Book Description

Series: Latitude 20 Books | Publication Date: December 1998

The 1997 financial crisis punctured the myth of a distinctive Asian model of economic development, the idea that that the region had discovered a blueprint for faster economic growth. The myth of the Asian miracle created the East Asian boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The myth ended with an abrupt collapse in confidence that sent East Asian currencies, sharemarkets and real estate prices tumbling. The crisis pushed most of the region into severe recession, fuelled political and social turmoil and ended the 32-year reign of Indonesian President Suharto.

A readable account of the financial, economic and political crisis that started in Thailand in 1997, quickly engulfed East Asia, and now threatens the economic health of the rest of the world. Garran traces the origins of the crisis in the successes and failures of the Japanese post-war economic miracle. He explains The spread of the notion of an Asian model of economic development, and how this idea was undermined by the 1997 crash. The book addresses the causes and consequences of the crash in all the worst-affected countries, with special attention paid to Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Essential reading for anyone interested in the rise and fall of the Asian miracle and the region's future prospects, including students, scholars, economists and historians.

As well as the events of 1997 and the first half of 1998 the book describes the historical background to the crisis and reviews the economic debate on its causes and consequences. Unlike other books on the crisis it deals extensively with the growth of the Asian economic model. It is accessible to non-specialists, and should be useful to undergraduate and upper secondary students. Tigers Tamed covers the origins and history of the crisis all the main countries in the region in detail. It has a statistical appendix showing key economic indicators for the region.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

When financial crisis engulfed East Asia in the second half of 1997, I had been reporting on Japan and Korea for my Australian newspaper for two years. The biggest riddle for me in Japan was trying to understand its past economic success and that of the countries which it inspired, the Asian tigers. I was sceptical of the explanations of the 'revisionist' school, which had dominated American thinking on the subject for the past decade. The revisonists put too much weight I thought on state intervention and had failed to recognise the weaknesses in the Asian economic model. The Asian economic crisis gave me the chance to flesh out these ideas and see how they applied to Japan and the rest of the region.

My conclusion is that there was right and wrong in the view that East Asia had discovered a unique and exceptional road to economic prosperity: right in that a unique combination of factors in East Asia enabled an extraordinary economic performance; wrong in the belief that these provided a model that could overrule the normal rules of economics.

East Asia's success was not a miracle. Party by design, party by accident, and partly as a matter of history it did many things right, and sometimes even managed to beat the market. But the conditions which seemed to allow Asian countries to beat the market have changed fundamentally with the growing interdependence of economies and financial markets, and will no longer deliver the same positive results.

From the Back Cover

How can the economy of a region go from miracle to meltdown in a few short months? As he traces the dramatic events of late 1997 and 1998 Robert Garran uses close, first-hand knowledge of Asia and its economies to show that the miracle was in many ways a myth. The 'tigers' of Asia had not discovered a unique secret for economic growth, and the breakneck speed of the boom led directly to its collapse. The financial and economic crisis that started in Thailand in mid 1997 quickly engulfed East and Southeast Asia, sending currencies, sharemarkets and real estate prices tumbling. Economics explains much of the rise, and the fall, but cultural and political factors add another dimension, one which this book explains and explores. The Japanese model from which the tiger economies took their lead is put under searching analysis, and the domino effect of the crisis is tracked through Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea on to the disastrous collapse of the Indonesian economy. Vital too is the intriguing role of Hong Kong and the broader economy of China. Are the excesses of the free market responsible for the meltdown? Had Japan and the tiger economies found a genuine alternative to laissez-faire capitalism? Have so-called Asian values been called into question? As the Asian crisis continues to threaten the economic health of the rest of the world, this searching analysis of the complex and dramatic events makes engrossing reading.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824821602
• ISBN-13: 978-0824821609
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,319,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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