This volume brings together market economists, policymakers, development specialists and academics from developed and emerging market economies to examine the underlying causes of the Asian financial crisis and ways of preventing future crises in emerging markets.

The importance of the financial system in economic development has been frequently neglected by analysts and poorly understood by policymakers. Are there policy reforms, or any particular sequence of reform measures, that will contribute to the successful functioning of the financial system and thus spur long-term economic growth? What kind of regulatory changes are appropriate as countries move toward financial liberalization and as government development banks decline in importance compared to private banks and nonbank financial institutions? What broad lessons can be discerned from the...