Wealth Illusion

This week's letter is from another one of the country's top economic analysts, Paul Kasriel of The Northern Trust Company. Kasriel is Senior Vice President and Director of Economic Research, responsible for producing the Corporation's economic and interest rate forecasts. He advises the Bank's Assets-Liabilities Committee as well as the Corporation's Investment Policy Committee.

Prior to joining The Northern Trust in 1986, Mr. Kasriel was an officer in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He also has been a lecturer in finance at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Mr. Kasriel received a B.A. degree in economics from the University of South Florida and an M.A. degree in economics from Indiana University.

Mr. Kasriel takes a look at what he calls the Wealth Illusion. He contends that people feel wealthy due to investing and real estate gains, but that the true gauge of wealth should be the growth in the country's capital stock and using this measure things don't look as bright for the U.S. Let's take an "Outside the Box" look at wealth.

John Mauldin, Editor
Outside the Box

subscribers@mauldineconomics.com

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Wealth Illusion

By Paul Kasriel

The Northern Trust Company
Economic Research Department
Positive Economic Commentary
"The economics of what is, rather than what you might like it to be."

The rise in household net worth in recent years has largely resulted from inflating prices of corporate equities in the late 1990s, and residential real estate in the past four years. But this rise in household wealth is illusory. The true measure of…