A financial crisis of a “once-in-a-century” scale has struck at the underpinnings of social
safety in the Asia-Pacific region. The earlier 1997-98 crisis saw vigorous debates over social
safety nets, but these debates quickly faded after 2003 because, with Asia’s export markets in
Europe doing well at the time, the crisis was overcome simply by pursuing the liberalization of
investment and trade. The situation this time is different in the sense that market conditions in
Europe and the US are worse than in Asia, inspiring little hope for economic growth by relying on
exports to these economies. On the other hand, we are in a similar situation to the previous
financial crisis in that the debates over social safety nets are about to fade again as the economy in
this region starts to recover, led by the robust development of emerging markets in Asia. Many
economies in this region are gaining economic impetus by increasing exports to developing Asian
economies.