The recent global economic crisis has reinforced significant concerns about the impact of financial and economic shocks in an integrated world economy. Moreover, the increasing frequency and severity of such shocks raise important questions about their systemic character and the ability of individual countries to withstand the most damaging and lasting effects of such economic uncertainty. Perhaps most significantly: How do economic crises affect the world’s most vulnerable populations? What structural characteristics make some economies more susceptible to the harmful effects of such shocks? And what policies or strategies can help developing countries grow and prosper in times of profound and unpredictable economic change globally?