Despite the periodic bursting of asset price bubbles, the wealth-to-GDP ratio has been rising sharply as a trend: What consequences?
Admittedly, asset price bubbles burst periodically (1990, 2000, 2008, 2020, etc.). This has not prevented the ratio of total wealth to GDP (income) from rising sharply as a trend in OECD countries. What should we expect if the wealth -to- GDP ratio rises continuously? Normally, a fall in the household savings rate and a rise in the corporate investment rate: for the time being, the household savings rate has fallen, but the corporate or public investment rate has not risen; Major social and political tension due to rising wealth inequality; An impact on long-term growth, which depends on how the wealth is used: is it invested in productive capital, or in unproductive, speculative and rent generating assets? We see that it is associated with a rise in asset prices, but not with a rise in the financing of productive capital accumulation. The overall effect is negative: the increase in wealth is associated with asset price bubbles, not with stimulation of investment.