Wealth (economics)

In economics, wealth is the sum of all goods and claims for goods ( eg money, shares) owned by a person or a corporation. Capital in the narrow sense is divided into fixed and current assets. Asset management is a financial service.

Types of assets

Typical types of property (called assets ) are, for example, bank deposits, cash, real estate, stocks or patents.

Assets can be made at home and abroad ( foreign assets ).

Assets often consist of financial assets (cash, bank deposits, stocks, etc.) on the one hand and real assets ( houses, cars, land, etc. ) on the other.

State involvement

Assets in some countries ( including Switzerland, the UK and the USA) loaded with a wealth tax. In Germany, the property tax has not been levied since 1997.

Since private capital formation is an alternative to state pension, it is funded by some states. See also employee savings allowance, housing bonus, pension bonus.

Assets in the business sense

The operating assets means the value of owning a company that in addition to purely physical assets (eg cash, real estate, machinery, shares ) (eg, patents, trade names ) includes the value of intellectual property. The operating assets represent one of the main variables is used to evaluate a company or share through fundamental analysis.

A special factor of the business assets is the human wealth, ie the sum of the potentials of the workers in the enterprise.

Wealth in the economic sense

The National Accounts ( SNA) defines the national capital in the balance sheet as the sum of all net assets within an economy. As part of the statement of net assets, the holdings of real assets, receivables and liabilities are recognized.

The European System of Accounts ( ESA ) is in the preparation of the balance sheets of the assets, the assets ( non-financial assets and receivables) liabilities, liabilities liabilities. The balance is the net worth. This is referred to the economy as a whole and the national capital.

In financial balance sheets, receivables, payables are compared, the balance is net financial assets. These financial balance sheet is drawn up and published by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

The assets consist of the goods produced and non-produced assets.

The goods produced assets consist of fixed assets ( fixed assets) and inventories and valuables.

The non- produced assets consist of tangible non-produced assets such as land, mineral resources, free animal and plant populations and water resources as well as intangible non-produced assets such as patents, rights, capitalized goodwill and other intangible non-produced assets.

The Federal Statistical Office defines: " Tangible assets are tangible assets. They include the residential, non-residential buildings, the, equipment and cultivated assets. Colloquially, the term tangible assets is often used in a broader sense, as a counterpart to monetary wealth, so synonymous with the non-financial asset or portfolio of assets. "

Distribution of wealth

Worldwide

Distribution of the global private wealth in 2000 ( in percent per tenth of the adult population )

The distribution of wealth, to be distinguished from the income distribution, the assets of different parts or group compares in a society.

The global wealth is highly unequally distributed. The richest one percent of the world's population owned 40 % of the world's wealth. The richest 10 % held together 85 % of the world 's assets. In contrast, had the poorest 50 % of the world together for only 1% of global wealth.

Shares of different areas of the world population and the global private wealth in 2000 ( in percent)

(*) LA. = Latin America (South America and Central America) (** ) Empire Asia = here mainly Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand

Germany

In Germany, the assets are distributed very unevenly. 10% of the population own in 2007 over 60 % of the assets, the richest 5 % of the population 46%, the richest one percent already 23%. In Germany, the inequality also increases sharply since the mid- 1990s.