Asia needs to change its mindset

       The US-initiated financial crisis should change Asia's economic mindset from one of export-led and GDP-based growth to more self-reliance and sustainability,says 2001 Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
       Asia must be less dependent on exports, particularly to the United States,as its markets are huge and they have great potential to propel growth, said Mr Stiglitz at a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) public lecture in Bangkok yesterday.
       The ability to absorb technology and the capability to pump Stiglitz: Go for demand and self-reliance supply to accommodate its own national economies should bring about the reorientation of Asia's economic strategy, especially in light of lessons learned from flawed US policy approaches such as GDP-based measures,reliance on non-bank financial institution self-regulation, and improper consumption of natural resources, he said.
       The Nobel laureate economist devoted much of his speech to criticism of the George W Bush and Barack Obama stimulus packages and the way the US government bailed out its financial institutions.
       However, he did not pinpoint exactly what Asian countries should do to get themselves out of the US-led malaise that has affected the entire world economically.
       Mr Stiglitz said it is a time for reflection about how to create a more sustainable global economic architecture - a sort of global reserve fund deviating from the US dollar-based currency approach.
       Any stimulus package launched by any government, he said, should not only be designed to suit its particular social and economic conditions but also take account of the global economic environment.
       "The national economic multiplier effect is important for a global recovery as well. Small countries cannot just wait for the world to recover," he said.
       "It is time that we design a new global financial infrastructure in a democratic manner.
       "In a multi-polar world, the efforts need to be bottom-up, but certainly it's going to be a slow and gradual process,"Mr Stiglitz said.