Forbes says Bill Gates is the richest person in the world. Here’s why they’re wrong.
This is an interesting take on how to evaluate a person's wealth. We hear what may or may not be specious comparisons of wealth all the time, for instance the claim that the poorest person in America is wealthy compared to the nobility of the 10th century. This article attempts to compare them in a reasonable way.
One thing I notice, though, is that on the graph that shows the Forbes list (in terms of nominal assets without adjustment), you could also look at certain family fortunes. Sum the fortunes of the Koch brothers, for instance, and they top the list. Sum the Walton heirs, and they in turn beat the Kochs.
That is interesting, but once you get past something simple like "what's the value of your assets," there are any number of ways you could measure wealth. For example, maybe Carlos Slim can buy more with his money in Mexico, but maybe he has to pay more for lawyers and personal security because the justice system is lousy. Maybe he doesn't have the same infrastructure so he has to pay more to have products shipped to market, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post way of looking at it is an interesting comparison, but there would be others as well.