For instance, Robert Lucas asserted in 1988 that economists badly over-stress the role of financial factors in economic growth. Moreover, Joan Robertson declared in 1952 that "where enterprise leads, finance follows". According to this view, economic development creates demands for particular types of financial arrangements, and the financial system responds automatically to these demands.
Other economists strongly believe in the importance of the financial system for economic growth. They address the issue of what the optimal financial system should look like. Overall, the notion seems to develop that the optimal financial system, in combination with a well-developed legal system, should incorporate elements of both direct, market and indirect, bank-based finance.