ABSTRACT
In the midst of the world’s eulogising of the emergence of the dynamic Asian century, a financial crisis broke out in Thailand in July 1997 and swiftly spread throughout the emerging market economies of Asia. The value of their currencies plunged and their stock markets collapsed. Within the six-month period to the end of 1997, the combined rates of currency depreciation against the US dollar and stock price decline together reached 97% in Indonesia and Korea, 80% in Malaysia, 75% in Thailand, 68% in the Philippines, 38% in Singapore and Japan, 29% in Hong Kong and 24% in Taiwan (see Figure 1.1).
