Tigers Tamed

How can the economy of a region go from miracle to meltdown in a few short months? As he traces the dramatic events of late 1997 and 1998 Robert Garran uses close, first-hand knowledge of Asia and its economies to show that the miracle was in many ways a myth. The 'tigers' of Asia had not discovered a unique secret for economic growth, and the breakneck speed of the boom led directly to its collapse.

The financial and economic crisis that started in Thailand in mid 1997 quickly engulfed East and Southeast Asia, sending currencies, sharemarkets and real estate prices tumbling. Economics explains much of the rise, and the fall, but cultural and political factors add another dimension, one which this book explains and explores. The Japanese model from which the tiger economies took their lead is put under searching analysis, and the domino effect of the crisis is tracked through Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea on to the disastrous collapse of the Indonesian economy. Vital too is the intriguing role of Hong Kong and the broader economy of China.

Are the excesses of the free market responsible for the meltdown? Had Japan and the tiger economies found a genuine alternative to laissez-faire capitalism? Have so-called Asian values been called into question? As the Asian crisis continues to threaten the economic health of the rest of the world, this searching analysis of the complex and dramatic events makes engrossing reading.

Robert Garran has been writing about economic and political issues for more than a decade in several leading newspapers. He has written on economics and politics for the Australian, Melbourne Age, Australian Financial Review and the London Economist. Between 1995 and 1998 he served as the Australian's correspondent in Japan and Korea and is now that paper's foreign affairs and defence writer.