(July 11): Twenty years ago, I was working at the International Monetary Fund in Washington that would scramble – like almost everyone else – to understand and respond to cascading financial disruptions that would throw Asia into a deep recession. Important lessons were to emerge from an Asian miracle that was taking an unexpected turn for the worse, with frightening systemic implications.

Asia painfully learned, and adapted well, and what it taught us remains valid today for other countries, and not just emerging economies. Indeed, had the advanced nations also been more open to these lessons, the global economy could well have sidestepped the even bigger global financial crisis in 2008, whose repercussions are still being felt today.

Here are five of the most important economic and financial lessons whose relevance extends well beyond Asia:

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