Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 March 2020
The turmoil in East Asia over the last six months has led to major realignments of many currencies in the region, whilst domestic equity and property markets have collapsed. Though each of the directly affected economies had some unique problems, all shared the key factors behind the collapse, an over-rapid growth in domestic investment, declining external competitiveness and inefficient and loosely regulated financial institutions.
An early version of this paper was given at Project LINK in Kuala Lumpur in September 1997. We would like to thank participants at that conference and at a Bank of England seminar for their comments, and Florence Hubert for her assistance in preparing the paper. Simon Broadbent has also contributed to our understanding of events in the region.