This book explores in-depth the major issues and important aspects of this economic recovery and its potential impact on growth, development, trade and investment. Expert contributors also discuss the global directions in international economic and financial relations, corporate and public governance and the challenges to be met and managed in the 21st century.

Despite Asia's protracted economic troubles, the region is poised to recover and perhaps become stronger than ever. This timely work identifies the major challenges facing Asia's Four Tigers (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong), Japan, China, and their Southeast Asian neighbors (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) as the region increases it role and stature on the world stage. Highly regarded Asia policy makers and opinion shapers consider such key questions as: What is the appropriate response to China's ascent? Are there prospects for U.S.-Asian partnerships (in such areas as the environment)? Is economic cooperation between both sides of the Pacific realistic? How can Americans gain from Asia's attempts to rebuild her institutions? And will East Asia and the United States adjust to a multi-polar security and economic milieu?

This report identifies well-established sectors needing transformation or improvement (tourism, agro-processing, and garments), along with evolving sectors with high potential for growth (electronics and digital trade) as Southeast Asian countries hammer out policies to boost post-COVID-19 recovery and secure a greener future. The first in a four-part series, the report looks at the pandemic’s impact on these five sectors across Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. It identifies reforms and strategies to help core industries recover and grow over the medium term. This report underscores how deepening regional cooperation can help policy makers boost their countries’ COVID-19 recovery and build more resilient economies and societies.

The traditional Asian economic model was characterised by the strategy of state-directed, rapid industrial catching-up. The first-growth period for Japan was 1953-73, while that for the NIEs (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) was 1966-86. Between 1987 and 1996, prior to the Asian financial crisis, there was indication that Southeast Asia and coastal China had been replicating the same Asian economic model. While showing a considerable degree of success, the developmental model has its shortcomings, and the financial crisis in 1997-98 exposed the flaws in the economic and political structure. However, with IMF financial assistance, steady improvement in the trade balance, rising foreign reserves, and gradual corporate and banking restructuring, economic recovery began to take place in 1999 and 2000.This book is a collection of papers presented at the Conference on ?Asia in Economic Recovery: Policy Options for Growth and Stability?, organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore, in June 1999. It discusses the issues and policy options regarding Asia's economic recovery.

Attempts to define the Asian Crisis and its future course continue to be hotly contested. Towards Recovery in Pacific Asia deals with financial and industrial reform, defence policies, the 'Asian-Values' debate, corruption and croneyism; as well as China, Japan and intra-regional affairs. Rather than trying to resolve the heated debate about the causes of the crisis, this book reflects on underlying trends to examine the possible paths of recovery. Bringing together experts in the field, Towards Recovery in Pacific Asia suggests that recovery is by no means impossible nor as difficult as might at first have seemed. But it requires political reform, tackling specific economic problems and the international support of the US, European Union and World Bank. There are still causes for concern, such as Indonesia's transition from the Suharto era and political reform in China and, most significantly, Japan. With its highly topical focus on the social, political and economic development of the Asia Pacific region, this book represents a vital, up-to-date analysis for students and researchers in Asian studies, International Relations, International Political Economy, as well as policy makers and professionals working in, or with, Pacific Asia.

This book analyses the ways in which crises, including COVID-19, can be managed within the tourism and hospitality industries in Asia, in ways that support the future of these industries and help to make them more resilient. This book supports efforts to develop a new direction for the tourism and hospitality industry by considering their development holistically in the context of sustainable development. Going further, this book highlights actions to make the tourism system more resilient to external shocks and crises. Readers of this book will get insights into the economic, social, technological, and environmental implications of crises on the tourism and hospitality industry in Asia, including issues within the food and beverage industry in the Asian post-COVID-19 period. This book has three major objectives: to explore the crisis context of Asian tourism and hospitality, to present multiple cases from countries in Asia, and finally to envisage the paths to make the Asian tourism system more resilient, through the discussion of new trends and issues emerging following the pandemic. This book examines the economic, social, environmental, and technological implications of crises on the Asian tourism and hospitality industry and discusses the various ways of managing these crises more efficiently, contributing new knowledge to the industry. In its wider context, this book covers tourism management, crisis management, and destination management. At the more micro level, themes explored include tourism economics, marketing management, hospitality management, food and beverage management and tourism technology.

When the financial firestorm swept through Asia in 1997, many economists scrambled to put together a coherent explanation of such a crisis. Early responses focused on economic and currency issues but these were more likely to be symptoms of the crisis and not causes. Soon after, it became apparent that the very essence of the crisis was of a financial, capital flow and banking nature. Further investigation revealed the crucial role played by foreign money, loose lending practices by banks and unhedged $US-denominated debt interacting to generate a huge asset price bubble. The twin liberalisations of deregulating capital flows and the domestic financial sector produced an explosion in foreign lending, and in turn a domestic credit boom.This book seeks to fill the vacuum of understanding between the causes of the crisis and those of the “miracle” or boom. In many ways, financial variables and high profitability were at the heart of the unprecedented 35-year expansion, and not just the traditional explanations of accumulation and high productivity. For such reasons this book unveils the Western shuttle model (WSM) of economic take-off where catch-up growth is very much a function of exports to mature economy markets, which in turn generate super-profits and so super-growth. The WSM offers several explanations of the crisis including a loss of short term competitiveness, due in part to the asset price bubble crowding out viable export opportunities. In summary, the origins of East Asia's ascent and of its demise are but the same.

East Asia: The Road to Recovery carefully analyzes the events that led to the current economic crisis in East Asia, the tremendous effects the crisis has had on the Asian economies, and prospects for the region's future. Chapters in the book cover the region's trade and competitiveness; the financial sector at the center of the crisis; the corporate sector's financial performance and governance; the social crisis resulting from the financial crash; protection of the environment as well as the people; and policies for sustainable recovery. This book not only discusses how this catastrophe could ever have taken place, but more importantly, what can be done to ensure that it won't happen again.

The main findings of surveys of 3,700 manufacturing firms in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The papers, presented at a conference in Bangkok in early 1999, compare the effect of the 1997-99 crisis on various countries, sectors, and types of firms, in terms of output, exports, and employment. They analyse the causes of corporate decline and assess the policy options to foster corporate recovery. The impact of the financial sector crisis on the corporate sector is discussed through an analysis of corporates' financial structure and credit needs. The extent of foreign corporate indebtedness is reviewed as well as the role debt played in the crisis. Each of the five survey countries prepared a report and these are included.

This study discusses the role assigned to foreign firms in the development strategies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand in the past and looks at how a more balanced approach to the treatment of foreign investors could contribute to a more sustainable development path.