Empirical Similarities and Differences Between the Global Financial Crisis and the Asian Crisis

The purpose of this article is to provide some empirical evidence about the recent global financial crisis compared to previous crises. First, this comparative analysis is conducted at the financial level by assessing the extent of international contagion among major stock markets during recent episodes of financial turbulence. Secondly, we examine the real impact of the crises, notably by comparing the losses of GDP during the recent crises in the advanced countries. Our results show that the recent financial crisis differs from other crises in the extent of the international contagion and the power with which it hit the real economies of the advanced countries.