Two Crises, Different Outcomes: East Asia and Global Finance(Cornell Studies in Political Economy)

Two Crises, Different Outcomes examines East Asian policy reactions to the two major crises of the last fifteen years: the global financial crisis of 2008–9 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98. The calamity of the late 1990s saw a massive meltdown concentrated in East Asia. In stark contrast, East Asia avoided the worst effects of the Lehman Brothers collapse, incurring relatively little damage when compared to the financial devastation unleashed on North America and Europe. Much had changed across the intervening decade, not least that China rather than Japan had become the locomotive of regional growth, and that the East Asian economies had taken numerous steps to buffer their financial structures and regulatory regimes. This time Asia avoided disaster; it bounced back quickly after the initial hit and has been growing in a resilient fashion ever since. The authors of this book explain how the earlier financial crisis affected Asian economies, why government reactions differed so widely during that crisis, and how Asian economies weathered the Great Recession. Drawing on a mixture of single-country expertise and comparative analysis, they conclude by assessing the long-term prospects that Asian countries will continue their recent success.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Crises, Corrections, and Challenges by T. J. Pempel and Keiichi TsunekawaChapter 1. Two Crises, Two Outcomes by T. J. PempelPART 1. Dealing with Crises: Continuities and ChangesChapter 2. A Tale of the Two Crises: Indonesia's Political Economy by Muhammad Chatib BasriChapter 3. Unraveling the Enigma of East Asian Economic Resiliency: The Case of Taiwan by Yun-han ChuChapter 4. Reacting to Financial Crises: Institutional Path Dependence in Korea and Thailand by Yasunobu OkabeChapter 5. China and th Two Crises: From 1997 to 2009 by Barry NaughtonPART 2. Toward a Second East Asia Miracle?Chapter 6. Political Business and External Vulnerability in Southeast Asia by Thomas B. PepinskyChapter 7. Success as Trap? Crises and Challenges in Export-Oriented Southeast Asia by Richard DonerChapter 8. Japan: The Political Economy of Long Stagnation by Keiichi TsunekawaConclusion: Toward a Second East Asia Miracle? by T. J. Pempel and Keiichi TsunekawaWorks Cited Index

About the Author :
T. J. Pempel is Jack M. Forcey Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the coeditor of Crisis as Catalyst: Asia's Dynamic Political Economy, also from Cornell, and Japan in Crisis: What Will It Take for Japan to Rise Again? Keiichi Tsunekawa is Professor in the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. He is the author of The State and Private Business and the editor of Democratic Identity: Formation of Emerging Democracies, both in Japanese.

Review :
T. J. Pempel and Keiichi Tsunekawa have edited a volume that succeeds in providing a comprehensive overview of the extent to which domestic politics across several East Asian countries determined their responses—and fate—during each of the crises.... Considering that the region seems to have learnt from the 1997–8 experience, this should be of interest to scholars and policy-makers in the region and beyond. - Ramon Pacheco Pardo (International Affairs) [The book's arguments are made] cogently and with strong empirical backing.... Moreover, the essays on the region's different economies provide important nuances to the book's central arguments. - Walden Flores Bello (Focus on the Global South, Southeast Asian Studies)