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The realwealth of nations 国富实论 A new report comes up with a better way to size upwealth 新报告，新思路，衡量真财富。 Wealth is not without its advantages, JohnKenneth Galbraith once wrote, and the case to thecontrary, although it has often been made, hasnever proved widely persuasive. Despite theobvious advantages of wealth, nations do a poor job of keeping count of their own. Theymay boast about their abundant natural resources, their skilled workforce and theirworld-class infrastructure. But there is no widely recognised, monetary measure that sumsup this stock of natural, human and physical assets. 约翰肯尼斯加尔布雷恩曾经写道：尽管事实反复证明财富并非一无是处，而其劣势没人说地明白，其优势谁又真正知道呢。即便财富优势清晰可辨，然而各个国家在清点财富时，却总做着一笔糊涂账。他们也许会骄傲地宣称，我国自然资源丰富，劳动力技术娴熟并且基础设施世界一流。但是，我们却没有一个一致认可的货币量度来总括这些自然，人力和实物资产。 Economists usually settle instead for GDP. But that is a measure of income, not wealth. Itvalues a flow of goods and services, not a stock of assets. Gauging an economy by its GDP islike judging a company by its quarterly profits, without ever peeking at its balance-sheet.Happily, the United Nations this month published balance-sheets for 20 nations in a reportoverseen by Sir Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University. They included three kinds of asset: manufactured, or physical, capital ; humancapital ; and natural capital . | 
