"Let the Russians take care of themselves," he said. "They're just too used to getting injections of money from the West. We should cut them off and force them to put their house in order."

Economics Professor Dwight H. Perkins has also been involved in international affairs, advising both China and Vietnam on how to avoid future problems.

"Neither has been hit directly by the panic," he said. "The main thing they want to understand is what lessons can youlearn, [like] don't open financial markets to theoutside world with a sick banking system. The nameof the game is to get rid of the conditions thatcaused it."

Perkins cited two underlying reasons for theworld economic crisis: financial panic and thestructural inadequacies of banks.

For example, Perkins said that in Indonesia,investors anticipated a crisis because of thecountry's economic similarities to itscash-strapped neighbor, Thailand, and pulled theirmoney out.

Their actions, Perkins said, led to the plungethey had initially feared.

Felipe B. Larrain, director of the CentralAmerican Project at HIID, is currently advisingthe governments of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua andChile on macroeconomic policy.

He said he has noticed many of the sameproblems Perkins has.

"I have discussed...exchange rate policy,financial markets, fiscal policy (especially howto cope with the loss of fiscal income due to theslump in commodity prices) and social policies(how to protect and improve the most vulnerablesectors of the population)," Larrain wrote in ane-mail message Tuesday.

Larrain wrote that the crisis became a globalaffair because the affected countries incorrectlyperceived the problem.

While he acknowledged that some developingcountries had fundamental fiscal flaws, includingovervalued currencies, large current accountdeficits and credit booms with no appropriateappraisal, he also attributed some responsibilityto developed nations.

"The lack of leadership in the industrialcountries exacerbated the problem," Larrain wrote.

"Most conspicuous has been Japan's appallinginaction, but the U.S. should have played a muchmore active role a long time ago," he added.

Although economic growth will slow down in1999, Larrain wrote that appropriate action canstill prevent a full-blown world crisis.

"The U.S. cannot remain isolated," Larrainsaid. "If Brazil and Latin America fall into acrisis, the U.S. will be hurt deeply on trade[and] profits."

Meanwhile, Harvard faculty members continue toplay an active role in international economicadvising.

"Individuals are always eager to give theiropinions," Goldman said. "Academics always are[willing to give advice] whether anyone wants tohear them or not,