Second, it is unusual since its origin is not of low economic growth or low savings or high government deficit or financial repression but in a way failure of the market mechanisms or private sector. Third, it is pervasive since it is a crisis of currencies, corporates stocks and banking.
Fourth, it is the most contagious so far, with an impact, initially on neighbours, then other developing countries and soon the developed world also. Fifth, it is still, by and large inexplicable though the immediate cause appeared to be sudden confidence erosion and global scale herding by market participants.