If a 10 per cent exchange rate misalignment in one direction made these countries vulnerable to crisis, where does that leave them now? In short, the initial exchange rate over-valuation seems too small, too routine, and the subsequent behaviour too inexplicable, for this to carry the full weight of being the key cause. Were fixed rates the culprit?
Again, fixed rates raise issues of vulnerability, but these countries did not stick to this fixed rate regime out of any perversity - they felt they needed this anchor in their macro policies. At the same time, some of their neighbours which have come through the crisis well also have fixed rates - Hong Kong and China.