# Spread out wealth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330 "2006-01-17T06:36:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@Trust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trust)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330/1 "2006-01-17T06:36:43Z")

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If all of the wealth of the world were spread out evenly, how much money or what would our living conditions look like?

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**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330/2 "2006-01-17T07:27:02Z")

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Wow, you are in luck…

[If the world’s wealth were divided equally, how much would each of us have?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_162.html)

It’s only 20 years out of date but if that bothers you read the analysis on the bottom of [this page](http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/gnp.html).

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**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330/3 "2006-01-17T12:16:23Z")

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According to the [CIA World Factbook,](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html) the purchase parity adjusted per capita GDP of the world is $8,800. That is in the same neighborhood as Bulgaria, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, and Russia.

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**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spread-out-wealth/340330/4 "2006-01-17T16:27:31Z")

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Really, I’m surprised at **Cecil**. The person asked a question about wealth, and he responded by talking about GDP and national income, which are income measures.

Here is a report from the World Bank on [per capital wealth](http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEEI/214578-1110886258964/20748034/All.pdf) (PDF). Naturally, there are a lot of ambiguities in measurement, but the Bank found that the average world citizen, as of 2000, owned:

(1) $4,000 worth of natural resources  
(2) $17,000 worth of physical capital (houses, machines, factories, etc.)  
(3) $75,000 worth of “intangible capital”

The last category is equivalent to market value minus book value for a stock–the value of the accumulated business processes and human know-how that use physical capital to generate income. At a national level, it can be thought of as the benefit of living in a stable country with an educated population and secure property rights under the rule of law.

Naturally, “intangible capital” per capita is much higher in some countries than others. And, it vanishes into vapor the moment you try to redistribute it.