This does not mean that macroeconomic explanations are not important in the Asian crisis. While there is no agreement among economists about the relative importance of the current account, reserves, foreign debt, monetary policy, and "scal policy for emerging markets in 1997}98, there is widespread agreement that macroeconomic policies are important in particular instances. However, as our results show, these variables do not have simple or direct e!ects in determining the extent of the crisis across emerging market countries in 1997}98. Our evidence suggests that corporate governance in general, and the de facto protection of minority shareholder rights in particular, matters a great deal for the extent of exchange rate depreciation and stock market decline in 1997}98. Although our results do not indicate which countries are vulnerable to a loss of con"dence, they do suggest that the extent of exchange rate and stock market collapse in response to a loss of con"dence is a!ected by investor protection. Corporate governance can be of "rst-order importance in determining the extent of macroeconomic problems in crisis situations.