Global paper wealth hits record $1.7 quadrillion, diverging sharply from real economy
Macro
McKinsey Global Institute warns that global wealth has become dangerously disconnected from the underlying economy, with total assets reaching a record $1.7 quadrillion and household wealth at $570 trillion even as productivity and real investment lag. Surging equity values, particularly in the U.S. and China, drove world equities up 20% last year to nearly four times U.S. GDP, but much of this gain reflects asset price inflation rather than genuine value creation. The report cautions that capital flowing into buybacks and speculative sectors like AI—funded in part by debt—may leave the economy starved of long-term growth investment, raising the risk of corrections through inflation or asset valuation losses.
