The Importance of the Financial Sector and Its Impact on Economic System in the United States in Years 1970–2010

Abstract

Capitalism is an economic system which is subject to dynamic and continual changes. In the history of market exchange of goods and services a few of factors can be enumerated which had considerable influence on the whole socioeconomic system. These include the industrialization of the production process, the introduction of the production line, the growth of international trade and the information revolution. Financialization of economy is another factor that has a huge impact on today's capitalism. A huge increase in turnovers value on the financial markets has been observed since the early eighties. Already in the early nineties the whole financial sector, together with financial corporations, became very significant in the American economy. That was when the profits of the financial sector exceeded the profits of the manufacturing sector. This article is based on the descriptive method and presents the growth of relevance of financial sector in the United States of America which took place in the years 1970–2010. This phenomenon has a huge impact on the contemporary capitalism. The author strives to answer the following question in the recapitulation – what is the impact of the changes described above on the efficiency and competitiveness of the whole socioeconomic system?