All firms from these five countries are included in the sample provided that they meet three criteria. First, each firm must have financial data reported in the Worldscope database, which is the primary data source used in this study. Second, the primary business segment of each firm must not be in financial services, that is, not in standard industrial classification (SIC) 6000–6999. Finally, each firm must be identified in Worldscope as being included in the International Finance Corpor- ation’s (IFC) global index. Firms are included if they are added to the IFC global index on or before the IFC’s 1997 review. Although this review occurs in October 1997, a firm’s inclusion is based on performance duringthe prior year, so firms added in 1997 met the standards for inclusion prior to the beginning of the crisis. The IFC includes firms in the global index only if they are among the largest and most liquid firms in a given market. This criterion reduces the sample size, but it is imposed for two reasons. First, the quality of data available in Worldscope is higher among the firms followed by the IFC. For example, non-IFC firms would be three to four times