Where the stock market is worth more than the economy

31 October 2026

Comparing what a country's listed companies are worth with what its whole economy produces in a year shows how much of national wealth is tied up in the stock market, and how much investors are willing to pay for it. In 2025 the typical country was at 41%, but Hong Kong's listed companies were worth over 14 times its annual output, and 14 of the 66 countries with data were above 100%. Part of that gap is real, and part of it is an accounting quirk rather than a sign of a "bigger" market.

US stocks beat the rest of the world by about 2% a year since 1996, but not in every decade

28 October 2026

US stocks returned about 10.4% a year between 1996 and 2025, against 8.5% for a global portfolio of developed and emerging markets. At that pace $10,000 invested in January 1996 became about $195,000 in US stocks and about $115,000 in the global portfolio. Most of that gap opened after 2013. Before that, the rest of the developed world was ahead for years, and sector leaders changed every decade.

This is education, not investment advice. Past returns do not predict future returns, and every figure below is before fees and taxes.