ABSTRACT
As the financial crisis that hit Asia in 1997 spread through emerging markets and affected economies throughout the world, there was some acknowledgement that the international financial system itselj—and not just weaknesses in domestic economies—may be in need of major reform. The disastrous effects of attacks by currency speculators, showed the enormous power of money markets over the fate of developing economies. Short-term investment, or hot money, drove some of Asia's record growth in the 1980s and 90s, and the sudden outflow of that capital had just as significantly devastated them. Capital flows that were supposed to better the lives of everyone benefited mostly the rich of industrialised countries, and elites within developing nations—the corruption and cronyism of whom contributed to the current crisis. The acceptance of a host of capitalist values—of growth not linked to work, of monetary speculation, of living beyond one's means, of consumption for its own sake—brought disaster. Perhaps it will serve as a wake-up call against the apotheosis of the free market, and return us to religion's traditional concern for a moral economy.
The following three articles, written in the second half of 1997 and the first half of 1998, examine currency speculation, the currency crisis in light of spiritual and moral values, and the economic situation one year after the currency turmoil began. All three pieces were published in the Commentary series of the International Movement f or a Just World (Nos. 7, 10, and 15). In addition, the first two articles of the set appeared in Impact International (Vol. 32, No. 12, December 1997 and Vol. 33, No. 2, February 1998).
