The present economic and financial crisis is an
important part of the story of the future. First, the
crisis itself has undoubtedly been facilitated by the
‘end of geography’ world of fast flowing, lightly
regulated finance across borders. Secondly, the resolution
of the crisis may be an important determinant
of the future geography of finance, through the
resultant regulatory reactions that may or may not
follow the extreme credit crunch and through the
ways we continue to manage a networked world of
accessible information. A future scenario of high
regulation as regulators seek to stop negative spillover
effects and limit global systemic risk may well
restore many of the controls allied to geography that
have been increasingly absent in the past few decades.
Furthermore the risks inherent in the ‘end of
geography’ world do not pertain only to the capital
imbalances which were permitted in a deregulated
world but also to the risks inherent in a networked
world resulting from the advance and adoption of
ICTs (Castells, 1996). The crisis also signals how
‘new’ finance geographies—e.g. China—will be
more important.
This update suggests that in the short term, the
present model of finance is going to require serious
reform, likely to slow the enthusiasm for The End of
Geography, possibly redefining geography around
the emerging new powers, moving us away from
the almost uninterrupted drive towards a world
shaped by fast development and adoption of ICTs
and deregulation. Moreover, by looking at the current
crisis through these two lenses, it will be argued
that rather than in addition to looking at
experiences of the past for policy prescriptions, policymakers
should also focus on what is unique
about the crisis.