Asian Essay -- essays research papers

Asian Financial Institutions and Markets The Asian financial markets can be compared to the economic philosophy of mercantilism, which is regulated commerce to produce a favorable balance of trade. Governments regulate production techniques to ensure the quality of exports, and in general, subsidize production in their exporting industries. Tariffs can be high on imported manufactured goods and low on imported raw materials. The state exercises much control over economic life in these environments, chiefly through corporations and trading companies. Production is carefully regulated with the object of securing goods of high quality at a low cost, thus enabling the nation to hold its place and wealth in foreign markets.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Asian countries have practiced mercantilism and protectionism under the guise of complex wholesale and retail marketing systems (Baker 13). The economic performance of the four Asian economies – Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan can be attributed to some of these practices. There is a significant degree of overlap between the government and the markets, suggesting that a broad-based approach is useful in understanding the nature of the Asian economy (Chowdhury 42). The government can control and regulate the financial system in order to finance development activities. The government acts as an internal capital market funding business sectors and industries. From a historical perspective, Korea was one of the poorest countries in world after experiencing two wars, World War II and Korean War. Food shortages that led them to heavily rely on the foreign aid, and to a yearly per capita income below the poverty level, this country is considered a successful newly industrializing economy. Korea has been transformed from its underdeveloped agricultural economy to a leading newly industrializing country. Countries that can be described as newly industrialized are more dynamic with a production structure corresponding to shifts in international division of labor, and where manufacturing plays an important role (Chowdhury 2). There have been many explanations for Korea’s successful story. Among those, the strong role of government would be probably the most important one. At the same time, this would be also responsible for current recession. After Koran war, the government in fact had no sense of direction a... ...cumulation. Controlling exchange rate is another good example to describe the effect of government’s role on Korean economic development. Economic growth in this period was result by an increase in export and output and as well as price level. With this historical review of one of the Asian countries and their development it is imporant to understand how the financial institutions involved operate. even though they were blamed as a major cause of Asian financial crisis happened in Korea brining the country to the brink of insolvency, as well as weak banking system, in fact, they could be victims of misleading government policy. The long term close relationship between government and big business creating rent and using them with unbalanced support between industries had worked well in the early stage of development, but as stated early, rent can bring corruption of bureaucracy or industries also, since it is caused by inefficiency. Allocation of financial resources is not an easy job, but this would be best time for Korea to consider again about the efficiency of closed relationship between the government and businesses while the country is restructuring its economy system.