Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

This thesis presents two main causes of the Asian financial/economic crisis. The first major cause of the Asian financial crisis can be directly attributed to the international financial markets. In short, the crisis was brought about due to fundamental structural problems in the financial systems of the Southeast Asian countries. International financial institutions lent large sums of capital to many of the countries of Southeast Asia without first thoroughly examining the borrower's ability to pay (i.e. creditworthiness). The preceding cause was made possible by two factors. The first factor pertains to inadequate government and bank supervision of the scale and usage of the foreign debt taken on by companies throughout the various countries of Southeast Asia. the second factor relates to the corporate business practices based on excessive borrowing of foreign capital and the poor management of that debt. The Korean financial system lacked the checks and balances, and accountability characteristic of the banks in the U.S., Japan, and many other industrial nations. A second cause for the Asian financial crisis lies in the structural deficiencies of the Southeast Asian economies, and to a greater extent, that of South Korea. The prevalence of covert dealings between government officials and businesses, and the lack of transparency of these economies eventually lead to the loss of confidence on the part of international lenders and speculators. the hypothesis of this thesis is that the crisis was made possible by the systemic changes in international capitalism - specifically in the growing prominence of highly mobile and volatile forms of capital and transactions.