Venue: CHAOPHYA PARK HOTEL
          247 Rachadapisek Rd, Dindaeng, Bangkok,
          10400 THAILAND
          Tel: 66-2290-0125
          Website: www.chaophyapark.com

July 2007 would mark the completion of a decade since the onset of the financial crises in several East Asian Countries. The crisis of 1997, whose effects are still visible, focused attention on the dangers associated with a world dominated by fluid finance. It brought home the fact that financial liberalisation can result in crises even in so-called 'miracle economies'. In fact the crisis marked the waning of the ''East Asian miracle'', which could be described as the third major process in the post-war period (after the initial success of import-substituting growth and the oil price hikes of the 1970s) that sought to alter significantly the distribution of income across the world in favour of some developing nations.

The crisis ensured this turn of events through a number of routes. With hindsight it is clear that currency and financial crises have devastating effects on the real economy. The ensuing liquidity crunch and wave of bankruptcies result in severe deflation, with attendant consequences for employment and the standard of living. The post-crisis adoption of conventional IMF stabilisation strategies tends to worsen the situation. And, asset price deflation and devaluation, pave the way for foreign capital inflows that finance a transfer of ownership of assets from domestic to foreign investors, The conference would be concerned with delineating the alternative trajectories of post-crisis development in different economies, the lessons they offer and their implications they have for alternative policies. The initial adjustment to the crisis varied significantly across countries, with an acceleration of liberalization in some (South Korea and Thailand) to grater intervention in others (Malaysia). In some ways all these economies have recovered. But the recovery has not meant a return to miracle status; has been accompanied by significant acquisition (at deflated prices) of productive assets in these economies by foreign firms; has involved a substantial restructuring of the financial sector; has altered the nature of engagement of the world system by these economies; and has involved a setback to achievements on the human development front..

The conference would take stock of these processes of adjustment and restructuring, their impact in terms of recovery and growth, the degree to which the problem of fragility has been addressed and the fall-out for progress on the human development front. The papers and discussion would focus on: (i) How the particular choices made after the crisis influenced the differential dependence on and impact of new forms of finance in different countries and the transformation of the nature and role of the financial sector; and (ii) how this affected the development trajectories and outcomes in the countries concerned, with some attention to the substantial dilution of the developmental role of the State, the growing presence of foreign firms and the increase in consolidation and concentration in the real sectors, a possible neglect of agriculture, and the impact all this has had on employment, social indicators and the environment.

Discussions would centre on the experiences of Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, with some comparison of post-crisis development experiences outside Asia. Tentatively, the conference would consist of the following sessions spanning 3 days.

Day 1 (July 12):

9:00 – 9:30
Inaugural

Chair: Pasuk Phongpaichit
Welcome and objectives of the conference

9:30 am -10.30 am
The Emerging Role of Finance

Chair: Jan Kregel

Prabhat Patnaik
Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board

10:30 am – 11:00 am
Coffee Break

11:00 am- 1:00 pm
Chair: Dic Lo

C.P. Chandrasekhar
Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Bruno Jetin
Faculty of Economics, Universite Paris Nord and Centre for Education and Labour Studies, Chiang Mai University

1:00 pm-2:00 pm
Lunch

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Regional Perspectives on post-crisis development

Chair: Jomo Sundaram

Jayati Ghosh
Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Edsel Beja, Jr.
Deputy Director Centre for Economic Research and Development Ateneo de
Manila University

4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Tea Break

4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Chair: Rizal Ramli

Malaysia

Jomo Sundaram
Assistant Secretary General, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, United Nations

Thailand

Chris Baker/
Pasuk Phongpaichit
Historian and Author/ Professor, Chulalongkorn University

Day 2 (July 13):

9:30 am -10.30 am
Indonesia

Chair: Erinc Yeldan

Rizal Ramli
Chairman ECONIT Advisory Group and former Minister for the Economy and Minister
of Finance RI

10:30 am – 11:00 am
Coffee Break

11:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Philippines

Chair: Chang Kyung-Sup

Joseph Lim
Professor, Department of Economics Ateneo de Manila University

Christina Morales
Outreach Coordinator, Global Transparency Initiative and Vice-President, Action for Economic Reform

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch

2:00 pm-4:00 pm
Chair: Vladimir Popov

South Korea

Doowon Lee
Professor of Economics, Yonsei University

Vietnam

Pietro Masina
Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples 'The Oriental'

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Tea Break

4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Chair: Jayati Ghosh

Argentina

Jan Kregel
Distinguished Research Professor, Centre for Full Employment & Price Stability, University of Missouri, Kansas City

Turkey

Erinc Yeldan
Professor, Department of Economic, Bilkent University and PERI, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Day 3 (July 14):

9:30 am -10.30 am
Chair: Walden Bello

Russia

Vladimir Popov
Professor, New Economic School, Moscow and Visiting professor, Institute of Central/ East European and Russian Area Studies, Department of Economics, Carleton University, Ottawa

10:30 am – 11:00 am
Coffee Break

11:00 am- 1:00 pm
Chair: Suthawan Sathirathai

China

Dic Lo
Professor, School of Economics, Renmin University

Andong Zhu
Assistant Professor, School of Economics and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch

2:00 pm-5:30 pm (including 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm Tea Break)
Impact on Society and the Environment

Chair: Pietro Masina

Chang Kyung-Sup
Professor of Sociology, Seoul National University

Voravid Charoenlert
Professor, Chiang Mai University

Thanpuying Suthawan Sathirathai and Renu Sukharomana
Good Governance for Social Development and the Environment Institute (GSEI)

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Chair: Prabhat Patnaik

Alternative Trajectories

Walden Bello
Co-Director, Focus on the Global South

June 14, 2007.