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