Social protection policies operate as automatic stabilizers in the face of such volatility, thereby contributing to the country's economic development (see Box 4.5). One of the contributing factors to the crisis was a lack of adequate regulation in countries with major financial centres—specifically United States financial markets.95 These kinds of financial crisis can be reduced, and their negative consequences contained, through prudential financial regulation. Because of its outward orientation, the country is exposed to intense competitive pressures and the ups and downs ofthe global economy.