Leading for Innovation: And Organizing for Results

19.5. Capital Is No Longer the Scarce Resource

Since the 1950s, the Western world has gone through a period of unsurpassed capital accumulation. In North America, in Europe, and in Japan, we have had a half-century during which GNP grew 600 percent. Of this constantly growing GNP, society saved between 20 and 30 percent each year. Most of these savings were institutional—through pension and insurance premiums, and so forth. It led to a financial resilience of banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and the like that was unsurpassed in the history of mankind. Total assets of U.S. banks, mutuals, and pension funds surpassed $10 trillion in 1999. Alongside these accumulated savings in the hands of institutions, the wealth controlled by individual ...