Wealth in China and its surrounding countries (except Japan) grew at a rate of 17% last year; household wealth of Americans grew at just over 10%.

If the stock market drops by half, households lose 20 per cent of GDP in paper wealth, similar to the impact of a 15 per cent drop of the us market on its economy.

But it was not until three populous, poorer countries-china, India and indonesia-began surveying household wealth that a global reckoning became thinkable.