Why do financial assets show up as component of household we

Solution

National wealth is a measurement of the real assets used to produce goods and services. Financial assets are claims on those assets held by individuals.

Financial assets owned by households represent their claims on the real assets of the issuers, and thus show up as wealth to households. Their interests in the issuers, on the other hand, are obligations to the issuers. At the national level, the financial interests and the obligations cancel each other out, so only the real assets are measured as the wealth of the economy. The financial assets are important since they drive the efficient use of real assets and help us allocate resources, specifically in terms of risk return trade-off.