This book reviews the contemporary issues in international monetary and
financial economics (such as financial liberalisation, crisis, exchange
rate determination, capital control, domestic capital market reform,
etc.) in an emerging financial market such as Thailand from a welfare
economic p- spective, highlighting the social welfare implications of
these issues. This 3 book also suggests a normative social approach (as
formalised in the new welfare economics paradigm) (see Islam 2001a, b
for a discussion of this; concept) for analysing and addressing these
issues and formulating appr- riate policies. Undertaking the above
tasks, the asymmetric information paradigm 3 and other elements of the
new welfare economics paradigm are adapted in analysing the
international financial issues of Thailand, their causes and economic
and social welfare consequences. The last two decades have been a
critical period for Thailand's dev- opment. From the mid-1980s to the
beginning of the 1990s, the Thai economy performed remarkably well and
was a showcase for the world economy. Having achieved a double-digit
growth rate for a brief period, Thailand in the late 1980s was regarded
as the fastest growing economy in the world by the World Bank and the
IMF. With prospects of further rapid economic growth, the Thai
government accepted Article VIII of the IMF, which required Thailand to
liberalise and deregulate its financial system.