Are international capital markets a source of stable and reliable financing for emerging market economies, or a source of instability? Is the pattern of capital flows from poor to rich countries observed in the past decade sustainable? What is the optimal degree of capital account openness both for inflows and for outflows? Should small emerging economies actively try to issue external liabilities in domestic currency?. This volume is an attempt to answer some of these questions, at both the theoretical and empirical level. All 15 papers add substantially to the body of theoretical findings, empirical research, and policy lessons on the behavior of the current account and the sources of external financing. Novel evidence is provided regarding sudden stops, international reserve management and fundamentals driving current accounts in commodity-exporting countries. Other analytical research addresses the adjustment of global imbalances and the causes and consequences of capital flows, current account adjustment in emerging economies, and the impact of stocks of international assets and liabilities and their valuation on international adjustment.Current account and external financing : an introduction / Kevin Cowan, Sebestia?n Edwards, and Rodrigo O. Valde?s -- On current account surpluses and the correction of global imbalances / Sebastia?n Edwards -- Crises in emerging market economies : a global perspective / Guillermo A. Calvo -- Latin America's access to international capital markets : good behavior or global liquidity? / Ana Fostel and Graciela Laura Kaminsky -- Financial diversification, sudden stops, and sudden starts / Kevin Cowan [and others] -- Valuation effects and external adjustment : a review / Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas -- Stocks, flows, and valuation effects of foreign assets and liabilities : do they matter? / Alfredo Pistelli, Jorge Selaive, and Rodrigo O. Valde?s -- Financial frictions and business cycles in middle-income countries / Jaime C. Guajardo -- Emerging market fluctuations : the role of interest rates and productivity shocks / Mark Aguiar and Gita Gopinath -- What drives the current account in commodity exporting countries? : the cases of Chile and New Zealand / Juan Pablo Medina, Anella Munro, and Claudio Soto -- International reserve management and the current account / Joshua Aizenman -- Do development considerations matter for exchange rate policy? / John Williamson -- Current account deficits : the Australian debate / Rochelle Belkar, Lynne Cockerell, and Christopher Kent -- Experiences with current account deficits in Southeast Asia / Ramon Moreno.