View source for Globalisation:International Monetary Fund: The East Asian Crisis

The global economic crisis began on July 2, 1997 in Thailand. Previous decades had seen the countries of East Asia improve dramatically, incomes had soared, health had enhanced and poverty had decreased rapidly. Some of the countries had not experienced a single year of recession in almost 30 years.<ref> Joseph Stiglitz "[http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/Joseph-Stiglitz-IMF17apr00.htm What I learned at the World Economic Crisis http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/Joseph-Stiglitz-IMF17apr00.htm 04/03/08]" </ref> 

Towards the beginning of the 1990s, East Asian countries had liberalized their financial and capital markets because of increased national pressure form the U.S Treasury Department.<ref> Joseph Stiglitz "[http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/Joseph-Stiglitz-IMF17apr00.htm What I learned at the World Economic Crisis http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/Joseph-Stiglitz-IMF17apr00.htm 04/03/08]" </ref>