Currency Crises. Edited by Paul Krugman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Pp. 356. $47.00.

Abstract

Currency Crises is a collection of papers by leading thinkers on the subject, all presented at a 1998 NBER conference. Paul Krugman edits the volume and asks aloud what the reader can only silently wonder: Why is yet another conference on such a well-established research field necessary? The answer, according to Krugman, is that “despite two decades of research on the causes and consequences of such crises, important issues are either unresolved or require a fresh look in the face of new experience” (p. 2). This is made immediately clear in the pages that follow. The volume contains applications of new models to old crises, as well as new ways of thinking about recent episodes. It also treats different types of currency crises, including not only those that can and do occur in industrial countries (usually because of policy inconsistencies), but also the breed of animal that rears its head in emerging markets.