I do think finance is important in making markets more efficient, predictable, and liquid. In turn, this improves the amount of capital available and also improves the efficiency and availability of international trade.

It's also a sophisticated "export" product itself.

However, I think there's a point where, absent sufficient regulation, it overshoots and most of the effort goes to squeezing nickels out of everyone else in underhanded ways. I feel like we could get 90-95% of the benefits with a finance industry that's half the current size, and also avoid a whole lot of indirect costs that come with an oversized finance industry.