Using a sample of 277 firms from eight East Asian economies, the relationship between financial distress and firm performance during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998 was tested. The crisis provides an exogenous shock which reduces the endogeneity issues between firm performance and leverage. The results from this study reaffirm that firms with low financial leverage tend to perform bette...

Compared to the rapidly-growing economies of Southeast Asia, the growth performance of the Pakistan economy was significantly weaker during the 1970s and 1980s. While the Southeast Asian countries made substantial progress in improving living standards, the average standard of living, as measured by the GNP per capita, was virtually stagnant in Pakistan over this period. Much of the difference ...

In contrast to developments in other world regions, efforts to institutionalize regional economic cooperation in East Asia have been weak. Though Southeast Asian economies have taken action toward trade liberalization (ASEAN Free Trade Area), the major economies of the region such as China, Japan and Korea have not been part of any formal trade groupings until recently. Ongoing economic coopera...