Asian Godfathers Quotes

“But the blame for the resultant situation, in as much as it needs to be attributed, belongs with politicians not with businessmen. It is the politicians’ job to defend society’s interests.”
― Joe Studwell, Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia

“South-east Asia’s high savings rates, most of which flowed into bank deposits, lent themselves to outsize banking systems, which invited godfather abuse. There is, in turn, a pretty direct line from the insider manipulation”
― Joe Studwell, Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and South East Asia

“South-east Asia’s high savings rates, most of which flowed into bank deposits, lent themselves to outsize banking systems, which invited godfather abuse. There is, in turn, a pretty direct line from the insider manipulation of regional banks to the Asian financial crisis. The ‘over-banked’ nature of south-east Asia also helps explain a conundrum that has occupied some of the region’s equity investors: why, despite heady economic growth, have long-term stock market returns in south-east Asia been so poor? Since 1993, when a flood of foreign money increased capitalisation in regional markets by around 2.5 times in one calendar year,37 dollar-denominated returns with dividends reinvested (what investors call ‘total’ returns) in every regional market have been lower than those in the mature markets of New York and London, and a fraction of those in other emerging markets in eastern Europe and Latin America.38”
― Joe Studwell, Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and South East Asia

“It is also worth recalling that tranquil Singapore maintains what is probably the highest rate of state executions in the world, well ahead of China or Saudi Arabia.32”
― Joe Studwell, Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia