Weathering the Storm: The Economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression

The principal cause of the 1930s depression in Southeast Asia lay outside the region - through a sharp contraction in demand for the region's major commodity exports. But it had important internal causes too: an oversupply of primary commodities and an increasing scarcity of new agricultural land leading to higher rents and lower wages, rising indebtedness and increasing landlessness. This work thoroughly analyses the pre-war depression. It also looks at the changes in the basic structures of

Weathering the storm : the economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s depression -- Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- List of Contributors -- 1. The Economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression: An Introduction by Peter Boomgaard and Ian Brown -- 2. Surviving the Slump: Developments in Real Income During the Depression of the 1930s in Indonesia, Particularly Java by Peter Boomgaard -- 3. The Philippines in the Great Depression: A Geography of Pain by Daniel F. Doeppers -- 4. Uneven Impact and Regional Responses: The Philippines in the 1930s Depression by W. G. Wolters -- 5. Material Conditions in Rural Lower Burma During the Economic Crisis of the Early 1930s: What the Cotton Textile Import Figures Reveal by Ian Brown -- 6. Structural Origins of the Economic Depression in Indonesia During the 1930s by J. Thomas Lindblad -- 7. Entrepreneurial Strategies in Indigenous Export Agriculture in the Outer Islands of Colonial Indonesia, 1925-38 by Jeroen Touwen -- 8. The Economy of Besuki in the 1930s Depression by S. Nawiyanto -- 9. The Rice Economy of Thailand in the 1930s Depression by Sompop Manarungsan -- 10. Rice and the Colonial Lobby: The Economic Crisis in French Indo-China in the 1920s and 1930s by Irene Nørlund -- 11. Hadhrami Arab Entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Malaysia: Facing the Challenge of the 1930s Recession by William Gervase Clarence-Smith -- 12. The State and the 1930s Depression in French Indo-China by Pierre Brocheux -- 13. Imperial Unity Versus Local Autonomy: British Malaya and the Depression of the 1930s by Paul H. Kratoska -- 14. Crisis and Response: A Study of Foreign Trade and Exchange Rate Policies in Three Southeast Asian Colonies in the 1930s by Anne Booth -- Index.

The principal cause of the 1930s depression in Southeast Asia lay outside the region-through a sharp contraction in demand for the region's major commodity exports. But it had important internal causes, too: an oversupply of primary commodities and an increasing scarcity of new agricultural land leading to higher rents and lower wages, rising indebtedness and increasing landlessness. This work thoroughly analyses the pre-war depression. It also looks at the changes in the basic structures of the economies of Southeast Asia that were of long-term importance, such as the role of the state in the economy. The authors also draw similarities and contrasts between the 1930s depression and the 1990s Asian crisis. Contributors are Peter Boomgaard, Anne Booth, Pierre Brocheux, Ian Brown, William G. Clarence-Smith, Daniel F. Doeppers, Paul H. Kratoska, J. Thomas Lindblad, Sompop Manarungsan, S. Nawiyanto, Irene Norlund, Jeroen Touwen, and Willem Wolters. Co-published with ISEAS, Singapore

The principal cause of the 1930s depression in Southeast Asia lay outside the region-through a sharp contraction in demand for the region's major commodity exports. But it had important internal causes, too: an oversupply of primary commodities and an increasing scarcity of new agricultural land leading to higher rents and lower wages, rising indebtedness and increasing landlessness. This work thoroughly analyses the pre-war depression. It also looks at the changes in the basic structures of the economies of Southeast Asia that were of long-term importance, such as the role of the state in the economy. The authors also draw similarities and contrasts between the 1930s depression and the 1990s Asian crisis. Contributors are Peter Boomgaard, Anne Booth, Pierre Brocheux, Ian Brown, William G. Clarence-Smith, Daniel F. Doeppers, Paul H. Kratoska, J. Thomas Lindblad, Sompop Manarungsan, S. Nawiyanto, Irene Norlund, Jeroen Touwen, and Willem Wolters. Co-published with ISEAS, Singapore