For example, the experience since the elimination of the international quota regime on textiles and clothing suggests that poverty reduction through labour-intensive exports is not sustainable without the development of backward linkages. In some African countries, clothing exports have been wiped out by competition from backwardly integrated countries like Pakistan engaged in domestic cotton and textile production and those countries that have built up labour skills in specific areas, like Sri Lanka with its advantage in producing womens undergarments (Adhikari and Yamamoto, 2007; United Nations, 2006b). When social protection mechanisms are inadequate, such negative downturns can increase poverty sharply. These surges often inflate domestic asset price bubbles, which may then burst thereby causing sudden capital outflows. Capital-account convertibility has also limited the macroeconomic policy space for counteracting such booms and busts. For example, sharp currency depreciation brought about by the sudden outflow of capital in relatively undiversified economies can be contractionary, raising the costs of imported basic foods and medicine and pushing them beyond the reach of the poor.