The deregulation of financial markets in various nations in the 1980s brought about a qualitative change in their operation and a greater degree of integration among these markets. These changes enabled the free flow of financial resources across borders, which allows private and public institutions in each economy the ability to draw on the strengths of foreign markets to meet their individual needs. But many observers in Japan, Europe, North America and elsewhere fear that the new freedom has contributed to a greater instability in individual markets and the transmission of fluctuations to other markets. The introduction and individual chapters in this book examine the ramifications of these trends.