Our Honolulu
Isle journal takes Asia to Europe
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer
You may be interested to learn that a journal from Hawai'i goes to subscribers in 39 countries, all over the world.
Articles come in from writers anywhere between Hong Kong and London. They're edited in Our Honolulu and printed in the Netherlands by a publisher with offices in Amsterdam, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, Shannon and Tokyo.
The brainchild of Rosita Chang of Taiwan and Ghon Rhee of Korea, called the "Pacific-Basin Finance Journal," is the first of its kind.
The journal provides a rare opportunity for scholars to publish research in English about the Asian financial scene, a subject about which it is difficult to get accurate information.
"Bloomberg News Service and Reuters gather data and release it right away; they don't verify its accuracy or give historical perspective," said Rhee, a K.J. Luke distinguished professor of international banking and finance at the University of Hawai'i.
"I think we're the only ones who provide historical data — not just the latest numbers but a comparison with years past. We also check for accuracy."
To make it even more difficult for American investors, Rhee explained, accounting systems vary in different Asian countries. Financial reports don't read the same. Besides, they're in foreign languages.
Chang, besides being a professor of finance, is executive director of their Asia-Pacific Financial Markets Research Center, which hires UH students to translate and coordinate the Asian financial reports.
Rhee and Chang, who are married, said they got the idea for the journal when teaching at the University of Rhode Island.
"In the mid-1980s, we tried to get this information in the U.S.," said Rhee. "We checked at Harvard, MIT and NYU, and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York. They had very little information on Asian economies. That's why we decided to do it ourselves."
Chang said they started by visiting stock and securities exchange chairmen in Asian capitals, all of whom were eager to tell the world about themselves.
"Now we have collaborative agreements with 10 stock exchanges and central banks in Asia," said Rhee. "They provide us with raw data that we compile into one uniform format."
The pair came to Hawai'i because the University of Hawai'i has so many Asian programs, and because businessmen here are more receptive to their ideas. They've had substantial help from banker Warren K.K. Luke.
Chang said their directors, Asian financial leaders, are "happy with their move to Hawai'i because the university has so many courses in culture, history and management."
The journal and the research center grew out of a program of conferences that bring together financial leaders from East and West. The conferences began in Taiwan in 1989 and have been held in every Asian capital. In 2003, the conferences come to Hawai'i.
