The first modern financial crisis in the globalized world | DW Documentary

The 1997 Asian financial crisis was the worst situation for Indonesia and my family in particular, my parents' small business went bankrupt. I was 5 years old then, but I remember very well the first time I saw my parents cry

This just made me realize how abusive the US and the IMF can be to emerging countries when they don't align with their interests after they literally exploit them.

I am surprised that the main stellar character that emerged out of this crisis with a V sign was DR M of Malaysia has not been discussed in this documentary. I was living in KL back in those days, and it was only Malaysia which refused to accept the IMF Bailout funds and decided to peg the MYR to the dollar. That was a form of capital control, but, it brought stability, and reduced the hedging risks for both importers and exporters as uncertainty dwindled. Bank Negara played a superb role in stabilizing the Malaysian Economy, despite all the diatribes spoken against DR M by top global economic pundits such as Krugman and Dr Mundell, etc. They later apologized on a tv talk show to DR M. I will never forget DR Mahathirs famous words, during the height of that AFC, that if the markets won't work we will dismantle them! Also, the devaluation of the Thai Baht signalled what was next to come in the form of competitive devaluations across SE Asian Economies, and it was logically feared that other nations would follow suit to keep their exports price attractive. Hedge funds after Black Wednesday found a great opportunity to make money. George Soros was named and shamed by DR M and it went beyond that which need not be discussed on this forum. Hedge funds using mostly equity derivatives sold stocks short and pulled out the capital. That had domino effects on the systemic risk levels and the financial contagion spread from one country to another leading to a full-blown chaotic financial crisis.

Thank you DW, watching this documentary felt like time well spent

I have watched more DW docs than any other platform. And I am not even in Europe. Excellent well researched stories. Like a piece of investigative journalism in a 40 minute video. Great stuff.

When I see a documentary from DW, I relax knowing that they do their best to ensure facts are accurate. DW continues to be impressive and insighful. Your efforts are appreciated.

Any documentary with the participation of Joseph Stiglitz shall always be great. Thanks DW for your amazing work.

This was really well done. As an aside also enjoyed seeing all the cities around the world plus historical footage.

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful content... for putting it out there with the passion that many of us need and strive for. I'm starting to listen to you almost every morning. Your voice and words are calming, clarifying, uplifting and motivating. It feels real and genuine. I am grateful to have your channel as a source for having a better relationship with myself and the world around me?

I immensely enjoyed watching this brilliant documentary as it provided a lot of insights about the global economic design and the precautionary measures that a particular country needs to take in order to prevent economic crises!

"A bank no longer had to keep reserves of the equivalent amount in its vaults for the capital it lends"

Over the past couple of years, I watched regularly without missing out on any DW documentaries. It is amazing. It relays us more insights into the world as well as uplifts the visions of exactly what is going through the globe about every subject. Thanks a lot, Dw team 👥

I like it when the camera rolling from one side to the other so that the entire city can be included.

Another high quality piece of content from DW

My Korean wife was profoundly affected by the Asian Economic Crisis. She was studying in the USA. And her family had to sell their dream house that they had just built. Her university gave all Korean students extra time to pay tuition. The interesting thing: That year, I was in Southeast Asia. And Vietnam was not affected, as it was undergoing an economic boom.

An amazing educational video. Million thanks to DW.

Hi I'm from Thailand. Thank you for taking our country as a study case. We can still feel the fallout from 1997 til this day. We'll never be able to reclaim the economic status ever again. I myself despise George Soros for what he did, but I do study his philosophy a lot to understand how exploitative the free market is.

This is one of the best treatments of the subject I've found, and will reach my students. Well done.

Thanks for producing this excellent documentary. The 2008 global financial crisis seems to be more widely discussed. But I do believe that there is so much we can learn from the Asian Financial Crisis.

I've followed DW Documentary from 2019 and recent quality had been slipping, great to see it back to its very best. Overall it's still far and away the best English language news channel.