The international financial architecture after the Asian crisis: learning from Las Vegas?

Recent attempts to diagnose the causes of the Asian financial crisis are examined in this paper. The view, supported in the IMF and other influential sources, that it was the outcome of a market response to policy deficiencies is subject to critical scrutiny. It is argued that the discussion of a new international financial architecture must recognize that financial markets have the potential to generate serious economic disruption without the aid of policy incoherence. An implication is that temporary control over short-term capital movements may be a useful adjunct to a flexible exchange rate regime for capital importing countries. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]