Introductory Note: Throughout the 1980s, the world experienced dozens of dazzling economic phenomena. A difficult recession occurred in the early years of the decade. Afterwards, industrial countries enjoyed a rapid growth simultaneously for seven years. Then the worst stock market crash since 1929 struck. In 1985, the U.S. dollar depreciated sharply against the yen, mark and other currencies. This development, coupled with a sharp decline in oil prices, hit Indonesia's economy like a one-two punch. During the 1980s, the world had to cope with an environment of high real interest rates. Another important symptom was a U.S. balance of payments suffering from a budget and current account deficit. This led to a huge surplus in Japan and West Germany. Also in the 1980s, capital moved from developing countries to developed ones. This was the result of the huge amount of debts owed by the developing nations. The debt crisis troubled many economies in Latin America. In the Southern Sahara Desert in Africa, the level of people's welfare dropped considerably. In contrast, the economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore grew swiftly. Another prominent economic phenomenon in that decade was the emergence of protectionism on the basis of a variety of excuses.