One of the features of the second half of the nineties was the pace of productivity gains in the United States deriving from the spread of new technologies; producer prices and world commodity prices remained stable.
The monetary policies of the leading central banks and the interventions of the international institutions had to cope with the succession of financial crises in Mexico, Asia, Russia and Latin America. The spread of these crises was averted; the worst effects of exchange rate instability and bank failures were kept within limits.