Financial crises in transition countries : recent lessons and problems yet to solve ; conference proceedings

ince the beginning of 1997, a currency and/or banking crisis broke out in several transition countries (Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine). In 1995, Hungary avoided a financial crisis by adjusting properly her macroeconomic policies. Financial markets in transition countries are still small. They gain, however, more and more importance for the entire economy. Part of the countries mentioned are candidates for EU membership. They have to show their ability to stabilize their exchange rates and financial sectors. The fact that overcoming the financial crisis in Asia and Latin America required international assistance (e.g. IMF) underlines the political importance of strategies of preventing such crises in the EU's immediate neighborhood. Against this background, the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) and the Centre for European Integration Studies Bonn (ZEI) organized a conference on 'Financial crises in transition countries: recent lessons and problems yet to solve'. The conference took place on 13/14 July 2000 in Halle. The organizers invited papers that are theoretical or empirical/policy oriented and offer a critical and up-to-date insight into a field that may gain more evidence in the future. Most of the papers present new results of empirical and theoretical research. This volume presents some of the papers.