Stiglitz Says Asia Must Protect Itself From Easy Money Inflows: Report

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Easy money will not provide any support for robust growth and Asia must protect itself from such inflows, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz warned in an interview with Thai newspaper The Nation.

"You may be getting the easy money, but it's overnight money. You don't build robust growth based on easy money. You have to say, if they come in for a longer-haul investment, that is great. But for speculation, well, it's not interesting," the economist said.

The U.S. and some other countries are flooding the world with liquidity to address the credit crisis. According to Stiglitz, these countries do not spend such funds in their own economies, but they invest in real estate and commodity markets of the best economies in the world such as Asian economies. Because these funds provide only temporary help, they will not form any strong base for a robust growth for Asia. Such funds may form another bubble and can distort economies in Asia, he warned.

"You have to protect yourself against the mismanagement of financial policies in US," the economist urged.

"You have to recognize how dangerous hot money can be; you really have to remember the lesson of 97. It's worth it for the money to come in only if it improves the productivity of the economy."

He urged the Thai government to focus more on the region and to continue its stimulus package for the country. Further, he said its time for Asia to forget the U.S. Market and it should look to its home potential.

Easy money will not provide any support for robust growth and Asia must protect itself from such inflows, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz warned in an interview with Thai newspaper The Nation. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)