ABSTRACT
Were the recent crises in transition economies only the result of financial contagion spreading in the global economy or could this series of crises be attributed to domestic causes? Does the coincidence of crises justify the view that the causes of the crises in East Asia and in Russia and other transition economies were similar in nature? This chapter embraces a third explanation—currency crises in transition economies resulted mostly from domestic policy mistakes, but of a different nature than those in East Asia.
