Sustaining Economic Welfare : Estimating Changes in Per Capita Wealth

Hamilton, Kirk

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ASSETS;    AVERAGE CHANGE;    AVERAGE GROWTH;    AVERAGE GROWTH RATE;    CAPITAL ACCUMULATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2498
RP-ID  :  WPS2498

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The World Bank's "WorldDevelopment Indicators 1999" highlights for the firsttime the "genuine" rate of saving for more than100 countries around the globe. Genuine saving values thetotal change in economic assets, thereby providing anindicator of whether an economy is on a sustainable path.The Bank's new estimates of genuine saving broaden theusual national accounts definitions of assets to includehuman capital, minerals, energy, forest resources, and thestock of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Genuine saving measuresthe change in total assets rather than the change in percapita assets. Genuine saving data may answer the question,"Did total wealth rise or fall over the acoountingperiod?" But they do not address the question ofwhether an economy is sustainable with a growing population.Genuine saving could be positive even though per capitawealth is declining. The author explores the issue ofmeasuring changes in per capita wealth--factoring in bothgrowth in total assets (as measured by genuine saving) andpopulation growth--as a more comprehensive indicator ofsustainability. First he develops a theoretical approach toestimating total wealth. Then he presents cross-countryestimates of changes in per capita wealth. Based onpreliminary estimates, he concludes that in the majority ofcountries below the median per capita income, wealth isaccumulating more slowly than the population is growing.