If we can resist protectionist pressures in our societies in the financial arena as well as in the BIS Review 94/1997  -3-  interchange of goods and services, we can look forward to the benefits of the international division of labor on a much larger scale in the 21st century.
What we don’t know for sure, but strongly suspect, is that the accelerating expansion of global finance may be indispensable to the continued rapid growth in world trade in goods and services. It is becoming increasingly evident that many layers of financial intermediation will be required if we are to capture the full benefits of our advances in finance.