An analogy might illustrate the point about compounding causation: in a car crash, who or what is to blame for the injuries? Is it speed, some act of recklessness such as intoxication, a poor road surface, an under-inflated tyre, an inadequate guard-rail, a poorly-designed car, or inadequate seat-belts?
Some of these things are mutually compounding, and others are simply unable to cope with the abnormal strains to which they are subject. So it is with the Asian “currency” crisis. The search for a single key cause - and, by implication, a single key solution to prevent recurrence - will miss the complexity of the task ahead.