The external constraint is increasingly taking the form of the need for each country and economic region to be in overall balance, in terms of financial assets and liabilities, with respect to the rest of the world.
The development of the global financial market in the last ten years parallels that of national financial markets in the later nineteenth century and the first half of this century. The increase in financial activity within each national market, the expansion of credit and the development of intermediaries all made a decisive contribution to investment, production and employment.