Global economic integration, IT investment, and recurring financial crises
1991.12~2001.11
A period reading post-Cold-War changes, international capital flows, and the IT investment boom alongside the Asian and Russian financial crises and the dot-com correction.
An editorial grouping from December (12) of 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, through November (11) of 2001, the month before China joined the WTO. These months are not asserted as the actual beginning or end of globalization or internet investment.
Conditions at the time
A period reading post-Cold-War changes, international capital flows, and the IT investment boom alongside the Asian and Russian financial crises and the dot-com correction.
How events unfolded
International capital flows and technology investment expanded amid institutional and market changes after the Cold War. The Asian currency crisis and LTCM crisis show that low US macroeconomic volatility did not guarantee overall financial stability.
Alternative interpretations and limitations
Growth and crisis experiences differed across regions. Do not equate IT investment with a bubble or explain the Asian currency crisis solely through globalization.
How to read editorial eras
Costs and policy capacity differed for households, companies, financial institutions, and governments. Check the national, industrial, and financial context of linked events rather than assuming everyone in the era shared the same experience.
Check linked events and policy announcements for information available at the time. Era names and representative-event selections are retrospective editorial choices; participants are not assumed to have known subsequent outcomes.
Interpretation using later sources
Retrospective accounts of the Asian crisis identify credit expansion, weak supervision and short-term foreign borrowing risks hidden behind strong growth. A stable currency peg did not mean safe foreign-currency funding. This illustrates financial integration's vulnerabilities; it does not establish the overall success or failure of IT investment or globalization.
Evidence coverage through 1998-12-31 · Sources checked 2026-10-14
Historical events do not guarantee future recurrence or investment performance.