ABSTRACT
Each phase in the long history of the world economy raises specific questions about the particular conditions that make it possible. One of the key features of the current phase is the ascendance of information technologies, the associated increase in the mobility and liquidity of capital, and the resulting decline in the capacities of nation states to regulate key sectors of their economies. This is well illustrated by the case of leading information industries, finance and advanced corporate services; these industries tend to have a space economy that is transnational and to have outputs that are hypermobile, moving instantaneously around the globe.
