IN the not-so-olden days, we were often told that "if the US economy coughs, Asian economies catch a cold". This is not far from common sense. It is natural that the export-dependent Asian economies suffer if their largest export market has problems. It is certainly unfair that Asian economies get worse than the US economy but this degree of unfairness was acceptable to smaller countries with no hegemonic power.

However, the current state of the global financial market beats common sense. One may say: "As the US economy recovers, emerging markets fall seriously ill". There are growing signs that the US economy is finally recovering from the Global Financial Crisis that started in 2008. As these signs are increasingly confirmed, emerging markets are heavily destabilised.

From the viewpoint of emerging markets, this is not only nonsensical, but also extremely unfair. It was the US economy that caused the Global Financial Crisis. US banks sold mortgage-based derivatives called CDOs (collateral debt obligations) all over the world and as these "houses of cards" collapsed, the US economy fell into a financial crisis. Convinced that the world economy would recover only if the US economy recovers, other countries actively coordinated economic policies through various international forums, including the G20.