Wealth:

Noah Smith:

"Financially speaking, wealth equals the market value of assets (net of liabilities). But economically speaking, wealth — or what economists call “capital” — is all of the actual durable stuff that we use to produce all the things that we want. It’s the actual houses, office buildings, roads, water pipes, machine tools, cars, trucks, trains, planes, boats, tractors, harvesters, construction machinery, computers, software, and so on. And it’s also the business organizations, the technological know-how, the corporate brands, the relationships, the education and skills, and all the other intangible assets that go into production. It’s anything that’s both durable and productive — anything that lasts for a significant time after you create it, and which can be used to produce useful goods and services."