Second, there are important agency problem-based reasons why traders who have just lost a great deal of money cannot immediately invest more in a country, even if they believe the expected returns are high. Shleifer and Vishny (1997b) develop a model in which traders cannot persuade their financial backers that they should be allowed to invest more, because having lost money may indicate that the trader has bad judgment.14 In reaction to a fall in asset prices, financial backers may insist that the trader cut his or her position in a country even further. Shleifer and Vishny (1997b) make this argument for hedge funds involved in arbitrage, but the same argument can be applied to large international banks lending to countries. As these investors pull their money out, the exchange rate depreciates