re: Wealth-to-GDP Ratios in the U.S. Since 1945

quote:

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Is the national debt included in "Net Wealth at end of year"?

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It's officially listed as net worth for "Households and Nonprofit Organizations."

I suppose you could take away a fraction of GDP as public debt, since individuals will presumably have to pay this eventually, but I think it makes more sense to list it as is.

The main point is that true national wealth must come from productivity and population growth. A lot of the private wealth amassed in the U.S. since 1994 has come from unbalanced flows of foreign investment that has made assets appear to be worth more than real GDP would seem to indicate would be reasonable. This in turn, has actually caused massive misallocations of resources that has stunted GDP growth. In truth, if things were more balanced, the U.S. arguably "should" have more wealth right now.