Overview: Issues for the 1990s

Shortly after October 19, 1987, a long-time observer of the New York economy suggested that that day's market crash marked the end of the 1980s. ¹ If October 19, 1987, does indeed represent such a benchmark, then the pickup in financial activity and renewed regulatory developments in the United States, in Europe, and among the central banks of the largest developed countries during the first half of 1988 suggest that the restructuring of financial industries will continue during the 1990s at a pace as furious as that of the 1980s.