Financial Vulnerability, Spillover Effects, and Contagion

There is already a large and growing literature about the financial crises affecting several former star economic performers in Asia. Some analysis have focused on the mismanagement of the structure of foreign debt and economic policies, while others have focused on weaknesses ingrained in the domestic financial and banking sectors of these economies. This paper attempts to reconcile these alternative explanations in a simple framework, where the causes and symptoms of "financial vulnerability" are distinguished.