In economics, decoupling and re-coupling is where countries are no longer economically impacted by the economies of other countries and visa versa. A financial crises is typified by the decoupling hypothesis that, in 2007, held that Latin American and Asian economies, especially emerging ones, had broadened and deepened to the point that they no longer depended on the United States economy for growth, leaving them insulated from a slowdown there, even a fully fledged recession.