This chapter of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation considers, in broad historical perspective and also with respect to the global financial crisis, why financial systems are crisis-prone and the relationship between financial crises and regulation. It begins with an overview...

1. General introduction -- 2. A critical review of the literature on credit rationing -- 3. The theory of credit rationing revisited -- 4. Financial liberalization -- 5. Intervention I : the South Korean experience -- 6. Intervention II : the Indian experience -- 7. Concluding remarks.