In the East Asian crisis, connections - with industrial groups or influential families - increased the probability of distress for financial institutions. Connections also made closure more, not less, likely, suggesting that the closure processes themselves were transparent. But larger...

A study of the five countries most affected by the East Asian financial crisis - Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand -- shows that more than 60 percent of firms are illiquid and 30 percent are technically insolvent. Among solvent firms, about half are at...