Unchained Melody: East Asia in Performance

Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand continue to perform unsatisfactorily today, ten years after 1997 Asian Crisis. As of 2007, these crisis-affected economies have not fully recouped their losses from the lost opportunities from the Crisis. Unless economic performances return to past trends, another type of economic miracle story may be needed to reclaim their past economic standings. Unless GDP per capita expands faster than present trends, they will continue to face the costs of the lost opportunities. A positive combination of policies is needed: taking up the useful components of the past arrangements and putting in the missing instruments for sound macroeconomic management and international cooperation.