Asia: A Perspective On The Subprime Crisis

Crisis anniversaries are usually occasions to draw lessons from the past - and the 10th anniversary of the Asian financial crisis last year was no different. Numerous conferences analyzed events of a decade earlier and studied ways to prevent a similar crisis. But the conferences had barely ended when a new crisis erupted. The epicenter of the crisis had changed - from Asia to the United States and Europe. And the buzzwords had, too. Securitization, subprime mortgages, and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) seem radically different from the currency pegs, excessive corporate borrowing, and foreign debt that dominated the Asian financial crisis.