The History of the global financial crisis
of 1997-99 in Asia as a whole

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Economic history in general of Asia as a whole

See also the economic history of Thailand, Indonesia, S. Korea, etc.

The financial crisis in Southeast Asia as a whole

The financial crisis in the world as a whole

Stock Market Plunge In Asia Worries Capitalists; Thailand 'bailout' means austerity for workers
By Naomi Craine, in the Militant, 15 September 1997.
Asia the victim of a vicious financial cycle
By Martin Khor, in South News, 28 November 1997. The globalization of Asian finance has caused it to spin out of control, and so IMF more a cause than cure.
1998 - The year of living dangerously
By Luc DeMaret, in ICFTU OnLine..., 8 December 1997. In terms of industrial relations, will 1998 bring social explosion or dialogue?
U.S., IMF deepen crisis for Asian workers
By Fred Goldstein, in Workers World, 25 December 1997. Effect of US finance capital's imperialist policies on the Asian working class. MAI and the looming future crisis.
IMF Bailouts: Familiar, Failed Medicine for Asian 'Tigers'
By Soren Ambrose, 2 January 1998. The structural adjustment model needs to be reexamined.
Migrants made the scapegoats of the crisis
By Natacha David, in ICFTU OnLine..., 8 January 1998. Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
Asian panic set to travel
By Terence Corcoran, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10 January 1998. International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus flies to Indonesia to explain to the people of all Asia why they are being forced by the IMF to bear the burden of a financial collapse that is not their doing.
U.S. reads the riot act to Indonesia. Economic crisis deepens: Suharto shoulders blame
By Barrie Mckenna, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10 January 1998. U.S. President Bill Clinton and the International Monetary Fund launch an emergency initiative to force Indonesia to swallow its bitter economic medicine.
IMF may be hurting, not helping, Asia
Editorial from the Toronto Star, 12 January 1998. Predatory banking intensifes the Asian financial crisis and victimizes Asian workers.
Asian stocks, currencies thumped. Hong Kong shares drop nearly 9%
By Marcus Gee, in The Globe and Mail, 13 January 1998. Peregrine's liquidation causes stock market collapse and a new round of financial crisis. South Korean labor and Indonesian politics.
What happened to Asia?
By Paul Krugman, 16 January 1998. A paper that attempts a theoretical catchup after the unexpected severity and complexity of the financial crisis starting in Thailand.
'Bailouts' Fail To Halt Crisis In Asia
Imperialists can't collect loan payments as workers protest austerity measures. By Maurice Williams, in the Now its Indonesia: U.S. mixes threats with promises as crisis spreads
By Fred Goldstein, in Workers World, 22 January 1998. Analysis of complex relation of IMF, Indonesian finances, and US imperialism. Also re. South Korea.
U.S., IMF force Asia to ax millions
By Fred Goldstein, Workers World, 22 January 1998. US and IMF bankers force Indonesian and South Korean governments to accept massive job losses in order to preserve bank assets.
Resolving the Asian currency crisis: IMF is not geared adequately to help
By Dr. Augustine H. H. Tan, in Straits Times Forum, 23 January 1998.
As capitalist Asia convulses: Is crisis regional or general?
By Fred Goldstein, in Workers World, 29 January 1998. As the crisis spreads to Indonesia, South Korea and India, question arises, is this simply part of a global crisis of capitalist overproduction? In any case, the only effective response can be working-class solidarity.
Consumer groups call for right prescriptions to fight problems. Programmes cause hardship to people
By Tanida Sirorattanakul, in the Bangkok Post, 10 March 1998. Consumer organisations in the Asia-Pacific region severely affected by the economic turmoil call on their governments and the IMF and World Bank to review their prescriptions which the organisations claim cause great hardship to middle-class consumers in the region.
Unemployment in Asia Alarms U.N.
From IPS, 28 July 1998. Unemployment in Asia, triggered by the ongoing financial crises in most of the region, is rising at an alarming rate, says the United Nations.
Crisis Promises More Pain for Workers
By Prangtip Daorueng, IPS, 26 December 1998. Workers, many of them used to decades of job security, face increasingly uncertain times as the region's economic slowdown threatens to throw more out of work in the coming months.
Still Looking for Answers in Region's Meltdown
By Satya Sivaraman, IPS, 2 August 1999. Two years after the Asian economic crisis, the debate rages on the reasons. Sociologists and political leaders gather at a conference in Bangkok and identify land reform, human resource development and control over global capital flows as key.
Women and children are the primary victims of the Asian crisis says the ILO
From ICFTU Online..., 11 October 1999. An ILO report by the International Labour Office (ILO) will serve as the basis for discussions at the regional consultation on the follow-up to the UN's 4th World Women's Conference which has just closed in Manila.