What caused the large exchange rate depreciations and stock market declines
in some Asian countries during 1997}98? The three main explanations for the
`Asian crisisa emphasize macroeconomic and banking issues. The standard
Washington view attributes the Asian crisis to inappropriate macroeconomic
policy during the 1990s, made worse by inept management of the initial depreciation
in 1997 (Greenspan, 1998; Corsetti et al., 1998). In contrast, Radelet and
Sachs (1998a, b) and Wade and Veneroso (1998) argue that the crisis began with
a mild panic that had no real foundation and was made serious only by IMF
pressure to increase interest rates and to close down banks. Krugman (1998)
presents a third theory based on international bank behavior, arguing there was
a `Pangloss equilibriuma that caused a bubble in asset prices. In his view, the
Asian panics had their origins in implicit (and implausible) guarantees o!ered by
governments and believed by investors.