Originally posted by MikeboydUS
In terms of net worth the US has slowed somewhat in the billionaire department.

This had me wondering how accurate this list is. So I started thinking what if instead of wealth being measured by assets and liabilities, what if it was meassured in terms of credit?

Its a question worth asking and one that cuts to the very heart of economics, in an almost "ontological" sense. What is wealth, in the end? It sounds silly but, almost like some quantum mechanical questions, when you REALLY ask this question seriously and look at the implications, its a lot harder to answer than it seems. Does it include only cash? How about investments? Credit, and even potential to access credit? If a billionare loses all of his money in a bad year or three, he can probably climb back to the top easier than "normal" people do to acces to connections, reputation, etc. Look at the various rises and falls of someone like Donald Trump, for example. Even when he was down, he was "worth" more than many with the same level of assets and income, because of his name. And so on. What about PPP (purchasing power parity)? Person A may have less net worth than person B because he lives in a less developed economy, but he may be able to buy more raw goods and services in PPP terms. The question becomes very murky.

Those so inclined can even take the concept of "wealth" beyond economics, looking at factors like health, happiness, and so on. But doing so removes one from the financial/ecomnomic sphere, strictly speaking.