The US Subprime Crises and Extreme Market Pressures in Asia

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to examine the evidence of occurrences of extreme market pressure of currencies of a number of Asian economies against the US dollar during the period of 2000-2009. In particular, we are interested in investigating the severity of these pressures during the recent US sub-prime crisis of 2007-2009. Were the currencies of these economies subjected to indiscriminate selling pressures during the period of the crisis? Was the heightened severity of the selling pressures associated with a particular event during the subprime crisis, such as the collapse of the Lehman Brothers? Our findings confirm the globally indiscriminate impacts of the sub-prime crisis on the countries examined and the greatest impact was felt and experienced by these economies around the time of the Lehman-Brothers’ collapse during the last quarter of 2008. Our findings offer far-reaching implications in terms of the linkages between macroeconomic and financial stability