Financial Restructuring and Economic Growth in Thailand

After a sharp downturn in 1998, the Thai economy has up until 2003 registered a strong growth. There has also been a significant increase in exports as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP). While examining the performance of the Thai economy, this paper pays special attention to the factors that contributed to the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. Owing to increased financial rather than trade liberalization facilitated by improvements in communications technology, it is virtually impossible to eliminate the possibility of crises in the future. Through sound macro-economic management polices it is however possible to reduce the frequency of crises and their subsequent impact on the real economy. This paper suggests policies that may help to reduce the risk of similar crises in the future.Asian financial crisis, financial restructuring, Thailand's economic growth,

The Balance Sheet Approach to Financial Crises in Emerging Markets

This paper contrasts the conventional balance sheet approach to the analysis of economic disturbances in emerging markets with the alternative balance sheet approach that applies and extends Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis to (open) emerging market economies. Earlier balance sheet studies are found to be flawed because of a failure to disaggregate firms' balance sheets. Examination of such balance sheets in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong suggests that firms in the three crisis countries did share common causes of financial fragility, but that the level of financial development and the particular domestic economic and political situation also affected their situation