This article focuses on the sources of vulnerability to currency and financial crises as well as on their degree of severity in Latin American and East Asian economies. Evidence based on a number of indicators reckoned for each country and for each region for every year over the period 1990-2004 suggests that the East Asian economies were potentially more vulnerable to troubles in the banking sector, while Latin American economies' weaknesses seem to be concentrated on fiscal and current account imbalances. Furthermore, the severity crisis indicators point out that there still remained regional contrasts, lessened only during the 1997-1998 Asian crises.
Currency crises; Financial crises; International capital flows; Exchange rate regimes; Latin America; East Asia
