n an article on currency exchange rates, SMU Professor of Economics and Statistics (Practice) Chow Hwee Kwan noted that before the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, Asia was in practice a dollar bloc and that the de facto pegging of East Asian currencies to the US dollar led to the problem of currency mismatches that contributed to the crisis. As trade is particularly sensitive to volatility in exchange rates, this stability aided the development of regional production networks. Prof Chow’s research focuses on how Asian countries manage their currencies and the impact of these policies on their economies, with one of her research interests being China. Prof Chow is also interested in how changes in monetary policies in the West will impact Asia.