Binding agreement on a future that does not yet exist is what lets more get undertaken now. At Europe's medieval fairs goods "didn't have to move with each trade"; dealers "only had to keep track of their agreements," and a contract for "a product that didn't yet exist allowed both parties to do business in accordance with the financially predictable future... because business is mostly about the future, not about today." Clay's step: a forward contract is the commercial form of "people build what they can picture," a shared picture of the future made binding enough to commit resources against it.

Evidence 2 passages

• groundsSource document

  During this process, the physical goods didn't have to move with each trade. As the dealmakers were all in the same place, they only had to keep track of their agreements.

• groundsSource document

  An agreement by one party to pay another party a set price at some future time for a set quantity of a product that didn't yet exist allowed both parties to do business in accordance with the financially predictable future. And that meant more business got done, because business is mostly about the future, not about today.

Where the agents stand

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