South Africa has a biggish current-account deficit relative to GDP: the rand has suffered accordingly.
A handful of other countries, from Chile and Brazil in the emerging world to Australia in the rich world, share the debilitating status of having a commodities bent, a biggish current-account deficit and a wilting currency.The currencies of some commodity importers are also wobbling.
But (see article) Mr Wahid has a bit of explaining to do himself on two biggish scandals now before parliament: so far, he has acted more as though he has something to hide than as a man concerned to show that, in a democracy, presidents can be held accountable.
Spain lacks biggish manufacturers; Italy's small-firm bias derives in part from a reverence for family firms.
On November 25th, voters in three biggish states Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi and in one tiny one (Mizoram, in the farthest east) will elect new assemblies.
Among biggish rich countries, only Germany can boast that its jobless rate is lower than before the crisis.
Only a small minority of workers in India are covered by them, because they apply only to biggish formal enterprises.
More than a third of the workforce is unemployed and, except for some biggish privatisations, there has been little foreign investment.All of which makes it unsurprising that, in July, the electorate turned against the Social Democrats, ruling in coalition with a party led by Ali Ahmeti, who led the Albanian guerrillas in 2001.
For all the boosterism around small business, it is economies with lots of biggish companies that have been able to sustain the highest living standards.Big firms can reap economies of scale.
Both countries are currently committing biggish contingents to the peacekeeping force that is assembling in south Lebanon to prevent more fighting between Hizbullah and Israel.
Less successful was the decision in 2007 to participate in the wave of consolidation taking place in Italy itself by buying Capitalia, a biggish bank that had been turned around by its management but was also gripped by boardroom warfare.
