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Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most populous state and its largest economy, was deeply affected by the economic crisis of 1997–1998. Its economic contraction in 1998, of over 13%, was the sharpest among all four crisis-affected East Asian economies. This followed three decades of virtually uninterrupted, rapid economic growth. The country's economic crisis was accompanied by regime collapse, resulting in the departure of then President Suharto after 32 years of authoritarian rule. This paper examines the country's socioeconomic development in the decade since the crisis, in the context of the earlier growth, and the very different institutions of economic governance operating under the new democratic regime of weakened central authority and many more economic policy actors. The main conclusions are that growth and macroeconomic stability have been restored surprisingly quickly, but that microeconomic policy and the investment climate are less predictable.

This paper first provides a brief review of the global financial tsunami. It then explains why the quantitative easing in the US and the unique characteristics of the Asian property markets have contributed to the formation of property bubbles in some Asian economies. Thereafter, it discusses the possibility of a bursting of property bubbles in Hong Kong, Singapore or another Asian economy a few years from now, and highlights that the bursting of the property bubble in that economy could trigger severe corrections of property prices in this region through the contagion effect. After pointing out that the implied crisis could be more severe than that during the Asian Financial Crisis, it (i) discusses policies that could mitigate the damages of the potential crisis and (ii) draws important lessons and conclusions that could pre-empt similar disasters in the future.

Due to rigid rules, incomplete institutions and concentration on short-run fiscal discipline, economic and institutional diversity and insufficient reforms caused the progressive segmentation of the Eurozone. Insufficient integration process is due to lack of trust among member countries and the need to keep a hard budget constraint of national budgets to avoid uncontrolled inflationary pressure and moral hazard. Although understandable in the short run, this situation is causing serious economic and social costs and damages to the development of vulnerable countries. The paper enquires possible solutions to this dangerous stalemate, that could also provide useful suggestions for other countries.

This paper investigates the impact of foreign bank entry on Thai domestic banks by using panel data on 17 domestic commercial banks from 1990 to 2002. The study examines different factors affecting bank performance, including changes in the foreign ownership of banks, financial regulations, and market structure. The results show that an increase in the presence of foreign banks has led to a rise in overhead expenses, a decline in profits, and an increase in the interest spreads of domestic banks. In the short run, increased competition from foreign banks seems to have negative effects on domestic banks.

This work aims to inspect the common debate about the implication of derivative instruments in amplifying the last financial crisis. To reach this goal, the study chooses a sample of banks entirely from emerging countries — over the whole period 2003–2011 — in which we examine the impact of derivatives simultaneously on performance, risk and stability during the ordinary period “the pre-crisis period”, 2003–2006, and the unstable period “the crisis and post crisis period”, 2007–2011. The regressions are estimated by generalized methods of moments (GMM) as developed by Blundell and Bond (1998). The major conclusion reveals that only swaps can be considered as implicated in the intensification of the last financial crisis. Therefore, the rest of derivatives instruments cannot be responsible in the amplification of the recent financial crisis. Indeed, the widespread idea accusing all derivatives to be in part responsible of the intensification of the last financial crisis should be revised.

In this paper, we compare the performance of Islamic stock indices (ISI) and conventional stock indices (CSI) from FTSE, DJ, MSCI, S&Ps and Jakarta series using common risk-return metrics. The sample consists of 64 ISI and CSI, and covers the period from 2002 to 2017. The majority of the stock indices are from the Pacific Rim countries’ stock markets. Additionally, we employ the GARCH-M model to examine the impact of past volatility on spot returns. Findings suggest that the ISI are less sensitive to the average market movements compared to the CSI, but surprisingly offer similar raw returns suggesting primary support for the low risk-high return paradox. On further examination, results reveal that M², Omega, Sharpe and Treynor measures indicate that ISI underperform CSI while Jensen’s alpha and Sortino ratio put ISI ahead of CSI. Moreover, findings show that pre-crisis winners (CSI) were losers during the 2008 crisis but subsequently recovered and ended up with higher returns than ISI. Findings also show that the previous volatility of stock returns can be potentially used for predicting future returns.

Regarding the approach of reducing risks of settlements, a system is considered to be resilient if it can address temporary and permanent risks and adapt itself to rapidly changing conditions without losing its functionality. To this end, a dynamic management approach on a local scale is needed for realizing resilience. Due to the importance of local management in improving resilience in cities, this study aims to assess the resilience capacity of the local risk management in terms of exposure to various crises in Tabriz, Iran. The findings in this study show that integrity and coordination in decision- or policy-making, enhancement of organizational and local capacities, and confrontation or rehabilitation approaches in critical conditions and after that are not desirable in Tabriz. Also, the centralized and top-down approaches lead to no proper local planning and management that can facilitate the resilience measures. In light of no spatial equilibrium in Tabriz and the inefficiency of conventional planning and management systems, technocrat-oriented and top-down, changing the management practices and emphasizing the local and bottom-up approach are necessary for the thorough understanding of facilities and limitations and implementation of realistic planning.

This paper considers the sources of employment demand in Asian economies. Using data from the World–Input Output Database, I examine the relative importance of domestic and foreign demand in generating employment. Despite some degree of heterogeneity across the sample, domestic demand is found to be the major driver of employment in all cases. Further, the relative importance of final and intermediate exports in generating employment varies by economy, with some economies relying on intermediate exports to generate employment to a greater extent than others, reflecting their importance as suppliers of intermediate inputs in global value chains, while others rely to a greater extent on final exports, reflecting their role as assemblers within global value chains. Considering developments over time, I find that employment is driven by two offsetting factors: (i) final demand (either domestic or foreign) and (ii) labor productivity, with changes in interindustry structure also being important in the case of intermediate exports.

Cooperatives have been given much-needed attention now by the Indian government through forming a separate Ministry of Cooperation. However, a lot has to be done before taking pride in the same. This chapter emphasises on the cooperative model to promote local institution-building in the post-COVID-19 era. Influenced by the institutional theory, the chapter discusses the gaps at the ground level and also provides suggestions to strengthen the cooperative sector in the country. A case is discussed from the successful dairy cooperatives in India that played a significant role in times of the COVID-19 crisis. The findings of the case discuss the interventions of the cooperatives in generating awareness towards safety, solidarity, accountability, providing stability, maintaining the value chain, securing finances, and supporting community welfare even during the time of the pandemic. Through this, the chapter highlights the cooperatives’ abilities in generating inclusive development in the country even during the time of crisis. This chapter is based on the primary information collected through a qualitative research method that includes in-depth interviews with the cooperative members.

This chapter provides an in-depth examination of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Lebanon, with a specific focus on the pivotal role played by women. Offering both a historical overview and a contemporary reality check, it establishes an overarching framework within which entrepreneurship in Lebanon is comprehensively described and explored. The narrative delves into the emergence and evolution of the ecosystem against the backdrop of a turbulent environment, shedding light on the progressively evolving role of women entrepreneurs. A detailed analysis of the current status of women in Lebanon highlights the challenges and barriers that female entrepreneurs encounter. This chapter also emphasizes the active engagement of women entrepreneurs in various sectors and concludes with an outlook on the future.