Oil,
soil, copper, and forests are forms of wealth. So are factories,
houses, and roads. But according to a 2005 study by the World Bank,
such solid goods amount to only about 20 percent of the wealth of
rich nations and 40 percent of the wealth of poor countries.
So what accounts for the majority? World Bank environmental economist Kirk Hamilton and his team in the bank's environment department have found that most of humanity's wealth isn't made of physical stuff. It is intangible. In their extraordinary but vastly under-appreciated report, Where Is the Wealth of Nations? Measuring Capital for the 21st Century, Hamilton's team found that "human capital and the value of institutions (as measured by rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries."
