Prior to the Asian financial crisis, most Asian exchange rates were de facto pegged to the US Dollar. In the crisis, many economies experienced a brief period of extreme flexibility. A `fear of floating' gave reduced flexibility when the crisis subsided, but flexibility after the crisis was...

The financial crisis of 1997 gave the Asian region a very hard lesson on the importance of financial stability. The severity of the crisis and the failure of IMF in assisting these countries became a motivating factor to engage in closer financial cooperation in this region. This paper will...