Q&A By Paul Blustein  
Q The Dow Jones industrial average and just about every stock market around the world plunged yesterday in response to financial turmoil in Hong Kong. How can that be happening?</br></br>A Think of it this way: Hie crash in Hong KongÛªs stock market is a dramatic indication of how serious AsiaÛªs economic problems areÛÓand investors are starting to wake up to the potential implications of Asia's troubles for the U.S. and global economy.</br></br>A Nobody knows for sure, but most economists believe the region will undergo a pronounced slowdown as a result of sharp declines in stock markets and currencies that began in Thailand last May.</br></br>Not only are millions of Asian stockholders poorer than before, but a lot of Asian companies are curbing their expansion plans because of the grave difficulties they face in repaying heavy foreign debts. So the region's 8 percent annual growth rate of the past few years might fall by half or even more in 1998 and 1999, according to recent forecasts, with Thailand undergoing a possible recession.</br></br>A Asia's dynamism has been a major factor fueling global prosperity. Growth in Asia accounted for roughly half of the world's growth last year, according to Nariman Behravesh, chief international economist at DRI/McGraw-Hill Inc.