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Article: More bang for the yen? Japan's financial reforms are more cosmetic than real.
- Article from:
- Reason
- Article date:
- April 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Reason Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As Asian currencies and equities dropped last year, International Monetary Fund analysts and global fund managers discovered yet another important "Asian value": denial. Thai banks "can't imagine what will happen if they tell you the truth," a director of a Hong Kong-based investment management company told Dow Jones News Service in October. "As long as they still say there are no problems, I say stay away."
This failure to face reality is largely the result of an inability to define reality. Lax reporting and disclosure standards make a true accounting of Asia's bad debts extremely difficult. When capital allocation decisions are based on political rather than ...