ABSTRACT
The world capitalist economy is a vast and complex entanglement of processes. For goods and services to be designed, produced and transported, for investment to take place in factories and offices – in effect, for the whole geo-economic system to work – payments have to be made. This chapter examines the significant spatial changes that have accompanied the latest surge in financial flows that followed re-regulation of international and global financial markets after the collapse of the gold-dollar standard in 1971. Global financial markets deal with flows of financial assets and financial information that cross the territorial borders and are intricate combinations of technologies and human organizations located in specific places. Finance is probably the best example of economic globalization with its swift moves around the globe in search of profit. Those managing private finance seek out the best returns as they mobilize global money.
