> as a general rule. In any case, in the present period, all countries
> are more and more exposed to external trade.
Not necessarily. External trade is only 16% of the continental EU's GDP and only 10% of Japan's, and the ratio of trade to GDP is well below its late 19th century peak.
> technology. Ditto the family of ICT goods. And these are usually
> priced in USD, and in a world market at exchange rates.
This isn't a problem for the EU or East Asia -- they have massive cash reserves and they produce plenty of those ICT goods themselves. ICT production seems to be shifting dramatically to the East Asian region -- Japan has recovered somewhat, and China is growing like mad.
> To a
> large degree, I think that's what's happened in SE Asia, including
> Singapore whose currency was minimally affected by the 1997-98
> financial crisis.
Isn't Singapore running huge current account surpluses, on the order of 15% or 20% of its GDP?
-- DRR