The volatility that has hit many middle-income countries (MICs) after
liberalizimg their financial markets has prompted critics to call for new
policies to stabilize these boom-bust cycles. But, as Aaron Tornell and Frank
Westermann point out in this book, over the last two decades most of the
developing countries that have experienced lending booms and busts have also
exhibited the fastest growth among MICs. Countries with more stable credit
growth, by contrast, have exhibited, on average, lower growth rates. Factors
that contribute to financial fragility thus appear, paradoxically, to be a
source of long-run growth as well. Tornell and Westermann analyze boom-bust
cycles in the developing world and