I.

Introduction

Wealth, in economics, an accumulation of goods having economic value. Economic value has several characteristics. First, an object must have utility. It must have, or be suspected of having, the capacity to satisfy some human want. Wealth can be increased by discovering uses for things previously not regarded as useful. Thus, the discovery of uses for petroleum in the 19th century added enormously to wealth. Second, economic goods must be in scarce supply. Air does not normally have economic value because it is freely available. Air that is artificially conditioned is economically valuable, however, because it is relatively scarce. Third, economic goods must be transferable; that is, it must be possible to buy and sell them at definite market prices. Finally, an object must have measurable economic value. Because the only common unit of value today is money, the worth of goods must be expressible in monetary terms. Some economists also regard a definite skill in performing a job as human wealth, as such skill has a determinable market value.