Some Asia-Pacific Case Studies

Abstract

Many of the Asia-Pacific countries escaped the fiscal crash in 2008. Australia, whose last recession was in 1990, is sustained by a booming mining industry dependent on China’s expanding economy but in 2016/17 this is under threat as China’s growth stalls. For the first time in 25 years, Australians face the prospect of austerity, albeit modest. In contrast, Japan had the highest debt to GDP ratio in OECD countries in 2015 and has lived with over two decades of low growth and deflation without facing an Ireland or Greek-style crisis. Many anti-austerians argue that in itself, high debt is not a problem as is proved in Japan, but austerians point out that the debt is mainly owed internally and the country is not dependent on foreign loans. The author also briefly looks at the South East Asia financial crisis of the late 1990s which hit the so-called ‘Asian Tigers’.