Remembering Asian Crisis: The Braveheart

"They knew that major trouble was ahead: crisis would wreak havoc on their economies and their societies, and they feared that IMF policies would prevent them from taking the actions that they thought might stave off the crisis, at the same time that the policies they would insist upon should a crisis occur would worsen the impacts on their economy. They felt, however, powerless to resist. They even knew what could and should be done to prevent a crisis and minimize the damage - but knew that the IMF would condemn them if they undertook those actions and they feared the resulting withdrawal of international capital In the end, only Malaysia was brave enough to risk the wrath of the IMF; though Prime Minister Mahathir's policies-trying to keep interest rate low, trying to put brakes on the rapid flow of speculative money out of the country-were attacked from all quarters, Malaysia's downturn was shorter and shallower than any other countries."

Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow..almost drop off from my chair! Thot it was written by you until i saw Joseph Stiglitz name..hehehe yup now they realize that sometimes you have to go back to the orthodox way!! Err...any price on the Ethical funds eh???

Anonymous said...

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