ISBN 92-808-1032-4 1999, 400 pages US$24.95, paper

As Asia's financial and economic crisis deepened and spread around the world, United Nations economists on five continents shared notes in order to understand the upheaval and suggest reforms at national and international levels

This process led the Secretary-General to present a set of recommendations to the General Assembly on methods to strengthen the capacity of developing and transitional economies to cope with international financial volatility and to reduce risks posed by the current international financial system. It also resulted in a joint statement by UN economic and social affairs officials to the ministerial committees that oversee the Bretton Woods institutions.

This volume presents the results of these exercises, including revised and updated papers and summaries of July 1998 meetings at which economists and scholars discussed the crisis in terms of the behaviour of direct investors and financial markets.

In the rapidly changing discussions of financial policy reform, ideas formerly outside of mainstream theory have gained a wider hearing. This dynamic dialogue is reflected in this book.

Barry Herman is chief of the international Economics Relations Branch in the UN Secretariat's Department of Economic and Social Affairs.