The Measurement of Wealth: Recessions, Sustainability and Inequality

Joseph Stiglitz

No 21327, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper considers two central problems in our statistical frameworks which impair the ability to use wealth to assess economic sustainability or the impacts of economic downturns. Some increases in wealth may reflect increased economic rents—in particular, land and exploitation rents—and their capitalized value, unrelated to an increase in the productive capacity of the economy. Another major problem in our wealth accounts is the “missing capital” required to explain the marked decrease in economic output, at the time of the recession and in the years following, that cannot be fully accounted for by a decrease in measured inputs. When account is taken of this missing capital, the adverse effects of austerity appear much greater than suggested by the standard national income accounts.

JEL-codes: D31 E21 E22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe, nep-mac and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published as "The Measurement of Wealth: Recessions, Sustainability and Inequality," Contemporary Issues in Macroeconomics, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Martin Guzman (eds.), IEA Conference Volume, No. 155-II, Houndmills, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan and NBER Working Paper 21327, July 2015.

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Chapter: The Measurement of Wealth: Recessions, Sustainability and Inequality (2016)
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