IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/upf/upfgen/396.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Asset prices and the measurement of wealth and saving

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Reiter

Abstract

The paper defines concepts of real wealth and saving which take into account the intertemporal index number problem that results from changing interest rates. Unlike conventional measures of real wealth, which are based on the market value of assets and ignore the index number problem, the new measure correctly reflects the changes in the welfare of households over time. An empirically operational approximation to the theoretical measure is provided and applied to US data. A major empirical finding is that US real financial wealth increased strongly in the 1980s, much more than is revealed by the market value of assets.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Reiter, 1999. "Asset prices and the measurement of wealth and saving," Economics Working Papers 396, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econ-papers.upf.edu/papers/396.pdf
    File Function: Whole Paper
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David F. Bradford, 1991. "Market Value versus Financial Accounting Measures of National Saving," NBER Chapters, in: National Saving and Economic Performance, pages 15-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bradford, D.F., 1989. "Market Value Us. Financial Accounting Measures Of National Saving," Papers 34, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Discussion Paper.
    3. Shiller, Robert J, 1981. "Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 421-436, June.
    4. Barro, Robert J, 1989. "The Ricardian Approach to Budget Deficits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 37-54, Spring.
    5. Hartwick, John M., 1990. "Natural resources, national accounting and economic depreciation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 291-304, December.
    6. David F. Bradford, 1990. "What is National Saving?: Alternative Measures in Historical and International Context," NBER Working Papers 3341, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. John A. Carlson, 1977. "A Study of Price Forecasts," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 6, number 1, pages 27-56, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Eisner, Robert, 1988. "Extended Accounts for National Income and Product," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 1611-1684, December.
    9. Gary D. Hansen & Edward C. Prescott, 1992. "Recursive methods for computing equilibria of business cycle models," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 36, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    10. Barsky, Robert B, 1989. "Why Don't the Prices of Stocks and Bonds Move Together?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1132-1145, December.
    11. W. Erwin Diewert, 1995. "Axiomatic and Economic Approaches to Elementary Price Indexes," NBER Working Papers 5104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Samuelson, Paul A & Swamy, S, 1974. "Invariant Economic Index Numbers and Canonical Duality: Survey and Synthesis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 566-593, September.
    13. Eisner, Robert, 1989. "The Total Incomes System of Accounts," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226196381, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Cannari & Giovanni D'Alessio & Romina Gambacorta, 2007. "Capital gains and wealth distribution in Italy," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Proceedings of the IFC Conference on "Measuring the financial position of the household sector", Basel, 30-31 August 2006 - Volume 2, volume 26, pages 129-156, Bank for International Settlements.
    2. Omar Licandro & Javier Ruiz-Castillo & Jorge Duran, 2002. "The Measurement of Growth under Embodied Technical Change," Recherches économiques de Louvain, De Boeck Université, vol. 68(1), pages 7-19.
    3. Luigi Infante & Francesco Vercelli, 2020. "An introduction to Italian balance sheets: methodology and stylized facts," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 559, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Luigi, Cannari & Giovanni, D'Alessio & Grazia, Marchese, 2008. "Italian Household Wealth: Background, Main Results, Outlook," MPRA Paper 15106, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lawrence H. Summers, 1981. "Inflation and the Valuation of Corporate Equities," NBER Working Papers 0824, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo, 2021. "Impact and cost–benefit analysis: a unifying approach," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Ossama Mikhail & J. Walter Milon & Richard Hofler, 2005. "Is Investment in Environmental Quality a Solution to Recessions? Studying the Welfare Effects of Green Animal Spirits," Others 0510010, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Goio, Ilaria & Gios, Geremia & Pollini, Claudio, 2008. "The development of forest accounting in the province of Trento (Italy)," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 177-196, June.
    5. Katharine G. Abraham, 2014. "Expanded Measurement of Economic Activity: Progress and Prospects," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 25-42, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Alejandro Caparrós & Pablo Campos & Gregorio Montero, 2003. "An Operative Framework for Total Hicksian Income Measurement: Application to a Multiple-Use Forest," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(2), pages 173-198, October.
    7. David F. Bradford, 1998. "Transition to and Tax-Rate Flexibility in a Cash-Flow-Type Tax," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 12, pages 151-172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Christian Gollier & Edward Schlee, 2011. "Information And The Equity Premium," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(5), pages 871-902, October.
    9. Hrubovcak, James & LeBlanc, Michael & Eakin, B. Kelly, 1995. "Accounting for the Environment in Agriculture," Technical Bulletins 156782, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. W. Diewert, 2012. "The measurement of productivity in the nonmarket sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 217-229, June.
    11. Calvet, Laurent E. & Fisher, Adlai J., 2007. "Multifrequency news and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 178-212, October.
    12. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei, 2003. "Style investing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 161-199, May.
    13. Robert E. Hall, 2001. "The Stock Market and Capital Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1185-1202, December.
    14. Warren, Paul, 2005. "Key Indicators in Canada," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2005037e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    15. Chunsheng Zhou, "undated". "Stock Market Fluctuations and the Term Structure," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1996-03, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 04 Dec 2019.
    16. A Lusardi & J Skinner & S Venti, 2001. "Saving puzzles and saving policies in the United States," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 17(1), pages 95-115, Spring.
    17. Diewert, Erwin, 2007. "Index Numbers," Economics working papers diewert-07-01-03-08-17-23, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 31 Jan 2007.
    18. W. Erwin Diewert, 1995. "Price and Volume Measures in the System of National Accounts," NBER Working Papers 5103, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Depta, Peter & Ravalli, Frank & Harding, Don, 1994. "Extended Measures of Investment and Saving," MPRA Paper 3319, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Lee, Jangyoun, 2021. "Behind rising inequality and falling growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Real wealth; real saving; welfare; index numbers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econ.upf.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.