But these shocks are unlikely to turn into financial crises if the country experiencing the shock has a sound macroeconomic environment and robust, well- regulated financial institutions. It is hard to think of an emerging-market economy experiencing a crisis over the past decade in which preexisting financial market weaknesses were not a prominent feature.
The productivity boom after the Civil War resulted from a variety of technological advances, including the expansion of and improvements in the use of steam power, railroad transportation, and communication by telegraph. By lowering the cost of transportation, railroad expansion allowed firms to take advantage of economies of scale in production and distribution.