아시아 금융위기의 원인과 대응책에 관한 검토

The Asian financial crisis has had a detrimental effect on the lives of those living within the troubled countries as well as investors whose resources and wealth were tied into those economies. Nevertheless, there doesn’t seem to be anyone who is willing to take the responsibility for this global mishap. Some blame hedge funds; however, those involved with the speculative funds are quick to defend themselves, blaming the fundamental weaknesses of the Asian economies as the primary cause of the financial crisis. They even claim that the short term capital flows brought these structural weaknesses into attention before they became even greater threat to the region. It is not clear what the exact cause of the Asian financial crisis was, and it may never be definitively known. However, when it comes to a crisis of global scale, it is likely that more than one factor is responsible for the outcome. Several factors appear to have contributed to bringing about one of the worst economic crises of the modern era. There is an indication that the Asian countries ignored the signs of impending crisis due to political reasons or outright incompetence. Also, the lack of transparency and the weakness in the financial sector in these countries hampered the gradual functioning of the market and investors. The market did not have enough information to make the proper adjustments to avoid a massive crisis, and the weak financial sector help sustain the resulting chain reaction. Lastly, despite some hedge fund managers' claim, it appears they did play a role in the crisis. The swift movement of the short term capital did take away any opportunity from those countries to prevent or alleviate the crisis. It appears that the Asian financial crisis may have been averted, or at least minimized in its impact, if countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Korea had followed before 1997 various policies and practices such as effective financial industries, internationally accepted banking supervision standards, and adequate level of transparency. Therefore, embracing these policies and practices now, not only in the Asian countries but elsewhere as well, can help avoid or minimize future financial crises.