What is wealth in economics? Wealth - what is it? Meaning of the word

The word “wealth” is used very often in speech. Many people say it without really thinking about its meaning. What kind of wealth can there be? Only material? Or some other way?

If you want to learn as much as possible about what wealth is, you just need to read this article!

Meaning of the word

The explanatory dictionary of the Russian language gives the following definition of the word “wealth”: it is an excess, an abundance of certain values that can belong to both society as a whole and each person individually.

“Being rich” means having at your disposal a sufficient number of material and intangible objects, such as money, real estate, gems and materials, knowledge, children, etc.

Synonym of the word

So, you have learned what wealth is. Could you give a synonym for this word?

Let us remember that synonyms are words that mean the same thing as the chosen word, that is, they have a similar meaning. For example: children, kids, guys, kids, etc.

True, not every word in the Russian language has a synonym. Therefore, using such a word in speech or writing may cause difficulties. If it is impossible to replace and there is a forced abundance of the same word, the text may turn out ugly, unreadable, and boring.

However, this problem will not arise if your conversation touches on the topic of wealth, because this word has a synonym. And not alone.

So what is “wealth”? Synonyms for the word studied in this article: multitude, abundance, surplus, contentment, excess, abundance.

Antonym of the word

Remember what antonyms are? No? But it's so simple! Antonyms are words that have opposite lexical meanings.

“Wealth” (the word we analyze in this moment) also has an antonym word. Which one do you think?

Haven't figured it out yet? Let's find out. You already know that wealth is wealth, an abundance of something. What word could be the opposite of it?

Indeed, wealth and poverty (or poverty) are words that are opposite in meaning and meaning; they are antonyms.

Material wealth

When you hear someone mention the phrase “rich person” in a speech, what is the first association that comes to your mind? Most likely, this is a healthy, cheerful, fat-bellied rich man, who, as people say, doesn’t eat money. He lives life to the fullest without thinking about limiting yourself in any way.

Usually the attitude towards such people is quite negative. They are condemned in every possible way, arguing that it is simply impossible to obtain a huge fortune in an honest way.

However, the paradox of this topic is that no matter how people insult the rich, almost each of them (if not all) would with great pleasure take the place of a contented moneybag in order to fully appreciate what material wealth is, in order to have more than just money , but also real estate, assets, companies or entire concerns, etc.

A beautiful life constantly beckons great amount forcing people to engage in “dishonest” business. But few people actually manage to break through, most of such arrogant dreamers are left with nothing.

Spiritual wealth

What wealth is from a material point of view was explored above. But the coveted earthly blessings, despite the abundance of merits, still fade when they have to be compared with spiritual wealth.

But what is meant by the epithet “spiritual”? All those life values that cannot be measured in monetary terms. This could be health, happiness, a large and friendly family, a job that brings joy, respect from others, love and much more. All that essentially makes every person truly happy and rich.

Spiritual wealth is much more important than material wealth, since people build their happiness over years, and one wrong step can destroy everything.

Perhaps you will now object that with material objects it is also possible similar story. For example, one wrong deal made by your company with another, and you are a bankrupt who has lost absolutely everything. However, this situation can still be improved. Of course, no one denies that it will be difficult, but there is a way out.

What if someone close to you is sick? Many are ready to give all the money to the last penny, but it won’t do any good - close person will leave... Nothing and no one will change this.

This is spiritual wealth, the meaning of which is very deep. And his loss is the most difficult and sometimes irreparable.

Wise people about wealth

The famous Greek thinker Plato once said: « Wealth - living and being content with little ». This means that every person should appreciate and take care of what they have at the moment. After all, fate has already gifted him - he lives, he exists. And even if now there is not a penny behind the soul, everything can be corrected - this is what life was given for.

The English philosopher John Locke also expressed his thoughts regarding wealth in a rather original and reasonable way. He argued that wealth is the result of labor . These words express the deep thought that nothing in the world is given for nothing. And many rich people (not all, of course) also started from the bottom, slowly moving towards their cherished goal - decent capital.

And spiritual capital also does not appear out of nowhere. It is the product of long and painstaking work, as a result of which you are a student who passed all exams with flying colors, a happy family man, a grandparent with five charming grandchildren, etc.

If at one time you had not taken certain steps that brought you closer to success and your cherished goal, you would have remained down there, poor and unhappy.

Who should I ask for wealth?

In all life's difficulties, if they somehow arise on the way, people ask the gods for help. Many people believe that several famous divine beings will help you become rich.

However, you should approach the choice of your patron with some caution and thoroughness, because not every high power will show you favor. Moreover, the “wrong” patron will not only leave your financial situation at the original level, but will generally lead to you unwittingly experiencing all the horrors of a situation that is the opposite of wealth in your own skin.

So you have learned everything about the word “wealth”. Thank you for your attention!

The path to wealth is the path to what? Who can be considered rich?

Is wealth synonymous with having a lot of income or having expensive property? For some, maybe...

Money is not wealth, and the amount of money cannot serve as a measure of wealth (or rather, it can, but only indirectly). In fact, money itself has no value at all - it’s just pieces of paper with numbers and portraits. The value of money is given by people who are willing to exchange these pieces of paper for something you need. Known popular expression: “In the desert a cup of water costs millions.” Indeed, in the absence of the opportunity to buy anything, money becomes absolutely unnecessary.

How can you estimate the wealth of a top manager who earns several hundred thousand dollars a year, but does not have time to spend with his family? Or who is richer - a millionaire dying of a serious illness, or a person without means, but in excellent health?

The real amount of wealth can only be judged by the quality of life. Only the one who can live his life the way he wants is truly rich, even if such a life is not connected with millions in a bank account. To be rich means to live in abundance - as abundance as you imagine it to be.

Wealth– the ability to maintain a normal lifestyle in the absence of earnings for a long time.
Wealth is freedom of choice. The choice to work or not to work. Spend your time as you want, regardless of financial restrictions.

The amount of wealth in monetary terms is different for each person and depends on that very “habitual way of life.” Only you can name the amount that it means to you to be rich. And even if you don’t get on the list of multi-billionaires, this will not stop you from enjoying the wealth of your own life.

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wealth

Wed multitude, abundance, abundance, excess, superfluity. The wealth of the harvest. Wealth of thoughts.

Abundance of property, bellies, money, yars. bonfire rich, arch. wealth, lower wealth, ryaz. Bogatel zh., zap. wealth avg. (also wealth), bellies, estate, property, wealth, wealth, condition; sufficiency, prosperity; objects that constitute a person’s property, and everyday life itself, the state of a prosperous person; opposite sex poverty, lack, squalor, misery, need, want. Wealth is akin to arrogance. Wealth sweeps away, and poverty oppresses. Wealth masturbates (swells), but squalor crushes. The man in wealth is not the same as in poverty. Wealth is water, it came and went. To my stupid son Wealth is no help. You don’t live with wealth, you don’t live with a person, they say. about marriage. Neither a horse without a bridle, nor wealth without a mind. The mind gives birth to wealth (the mind gives). Poverty cries, wealth gallops. You can't go to hell, you can't get rich. Stinginess did not come from poverty (squalor), but from wealth.

Splendor, splendor, luxury. The temple decorations are famous for their opulence. Rich, rich northern, rich Ryaz. plentiful, plentiful, abundant, many. Rich harvest. Rich copper ore. Rich imagination.

Possessing great property, estate, wealth. The guy is as rich as a horned bull and arrogant. The rich live, and the poor howl. A rich man saves his face (in a fight), and a poor man saves his clothes. The richer (richer), the stingier. And rich, but stingy. The rich man will buy his mind; the poor man would sell his own, but they wouldn’t buy it. A husband loves a healthy wife, and a brother loves a rich sister. He who is too expensive is not rich. What do I need (or: I don’t need) a rich one, give me a cheap one. Don't ask from the rich, ask from the rich. It is not the rich who feeds, but the fat one. The rich devil has children. If you are rich, you will also be horned. He who is rich is horned and proud. The rich man cannot sleep: the rich man is afraid of the thief. Not rich, but overpriced. You won't be rich by looking at people. After all, I don’t fall for a rich man, but for God, they say, if they don’t believe God. Snow and rain on the wedding train - live richly. The devils forge money for the rich. The rich man does not need a friend. If you are not strong, do not fight; if you are not rich, do not be angry. If you are rich, you will also be stingy. It is difficult to be rich, but to be well-fed (and satisfied) is not difficult. Richly adv. excessive, abundant, ardent, luxurious, magnificent;

Ryaz. tul. good, nice, eminent, wonderful;

thief. eagle Little Russian a lot of. We have a lot of sheep. Rich man, rich woman, sib. richer m. rich woman, rich woman, rich woman, arch. rich woman vol. hero of the south zap., a person rich in property; prosperous, prosperous, very sufficient, wealthy, moneyed.

Rich man, fire, wealth. Rich people are paunchy; shanks - shanks. The rich rich man has a lot of beer and honey, but he could throw it into the water with a stone. We praise God, we magnify Christ, we curse the rich man. Rich Wed. collect rich people, rich people. So rich people have gathered here that it’s scary. Bogatich m. bogatichna f. son or daughter of a rich man. The rich people live poorly; needy people who are not spoiled are better. Rich people like popovichs and blue horses: they rarely succeed. Rich, rich, belonging to a rich man. In front of the gate, in front of the rich, a song. To enrich someone, to enrich, to endow with wealth. What makes you rich is what shines, trade. To get rich or get richer, to get richer, to profit; to be enriched. I didn’t get rich when I was young, but in my old age I wanted to. Getting rich cf. action of enriching, enrichment. Wealth, the state of becoming rich. He got rich, he made money, and he enriched me, and he became rich himself. Bogatelnitsa m. bogatelnitsa f. enriching someone, giving wealth. Our rich mother earth. Rich woman, rich woman, rich woman. hard resin plant Conyza; komornik, flea beetle;

plant guns, Erigeron, flea beetle, unfading; on Ivan Kupala they tell fortunes with it: they stick a kidney into a crack in the hut, or put it under icons; will blossom, for good; will dry out, for worse. Difficult words: rich-loving, richly gifted, etc. are understandable in themselves, but heavy and rarely used.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

wealth

wealth, cf.

Large property, advantageous. monetary.

advantage pl. Totality material assets. The natural wealth of the USSR is incalculable.

trans. Many, abundance. Shakespeare's language is rich in words.

Splendor, splendor. The wealth of decoration on the building.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

wealth

Abundance and diversity of natural resources.

trans. A variety of high moral qualities.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Wealth (meanings)

Wealth:

Wealth is the abundance of material values in a person or society.
Wealth is a novel by Valentin Pikul.
Wealth is a television series, a film adaptation of the novel “Wealth.”

Wealth

Wealth- an abundance of intangible and material assets in a person or society (such as money, means of production, real estate or personal property), exceeding a person’s vital needs. Wealth can also include access to healthcare, education and culture. In sociology, a rich person is considered to be a person who has significant values in relation to other members of society. In economics, wealth is defined as the difference between assets and liabilities at a given point in time. In the biblical sense - wealth of spirit and moral qualities. The opposite of wealth is poverty. In English, wealth in the sense of possessing values is translated as Wealth, wealth in the sense of extreme superiority over other members of society as Richness. Countries that are significantly richer than other countries are usually called developed countries.

Wealth (novel)

"Wealth"- novel by famous Soviet writer Valentina Pikulya. The work tells about the defense of the Kamchatka Peninsula during the Russo-Japanese War.

Examples of the use of the word wealth in literature.

The traitor Abaz fled to Iran, and Erzurum with all his riches again returned by me to the owner of the seal of Allah, Sultan Murad the Fourth.

Be that as it may, the Corporate Sector of Autarky managed to secure the right to develop - some called it robbery - the countless local wealth.

Her wealth and the influence could be compared only with the few richest regions of the Empire, and Autarky spared neither time nor money, isolating itself from any penetration from the outside.

Sudan of Aden has a lot of income and a lot wealth from duties on ships and merchants visiting here.

As you move, everything reveals itself wealth Neva panoramas from the river mouth with portal cranes and docks shipbuilding enterprises along the shores of Vasilyevsky and Admiralty Islands to the ensembles Peter and Paul Fortress, Petrovskaya embankment

You think you're deciding social problem, boast that you can eat honey and locusts, and at the same time in your soul you dream of wealth, about the delights of a luxurious life, about women.

Although the origin wealth, the courage shown in battle, the support of numerous friends and relatives gave him wide access to state affairs Alcibiades preferred that his influence among the people be based primarily on his inherent gift of speech.

After this, Alcibiades, in fear of the Lacedaemonians, who now ruled both land and sea, moved to Bithynia, taking with him huge wealth, however, leaving even more in his fortress.

The name of the disease, the diagnosis, as allopaths say, helps little in treatment, but the homeopathic doctor must carefully record all the manifestations of the disease in a particular patient, record them on paper, using everything wealth language in order to update the image of the disease in your memory at any time.

Whoever sent you news from across the sea, He foresaw everything, undoubtedly knowing that it was not just a call wealth There is more than one earthly hunger for you, But there is another thirst - The desire to listen to the expanse of the sea And to rise above the vanity of the world.

Owning wealth, which gave him more influence and opportunities than those that his brother had, Amulius easily deprived Numitor of power and, fearing that the daughter of the overthrown king might have children, appointed her a priestess of Vesta, dooming her to eternal virginity and celibacy.

Just beware of thieves who are after yours. wealth, - she finished, seeing that the venerable Esarhaddon was eavesdropping.

Also, the appraised value automatically becomes the appraising value, and money, which, due to its increasing or decreasing quantity, causes, but always limits, price fluctuations, guarantees in terms of wealth combination of definition and articulation, attribution and derivation.

Rhodes is on the right, Türkiye is left behind, and in the storeroom under the afterpeak there is a fabulous wealth.

Friends are good Babek Serush Give wealth your souls, It is more valuable to him than money.

Once we discussed this topic with our employees. It all started when one girl, sighing heavily, said: “How lucky he is - he’s so rich!”
A discussion broke out on the topic “and what is wealth, what does it mean to be rich?

The answers were very different: wealth is when you have a lot of money, when you go to Prague for the weekend, etc...

So let's figure out what wealth is.
Wikipedia says:

Wealth is the abundance of a person or society of material and intangible values, such as money, means of production, real estate or personal property. Wealth can also include access to healthcare, education and culture. In sociology, a rich person is considered to be a person who has significant values in relation to other members of society. In economics, wealth is defined as the difference between assets and liabilities at a given point in time.

Let us also turn to the school etymological dictionary:

RICH. Obsesslav. Suf. derived from god “wealth, property, share” (cf. happiness - I have no share). Structurally exactly corresponds to Lat. fortunatus “rich” (from fortuna “wealth, happiness, fate”).

We can often meet people who will talk about wealth for hours. However, if we ask them to describe wealth, they are stumped. The seemingly easy question: “What is wealth?” It's not that easy to answer.

If you look in Dictionary, then you can read different interpretations this word. So, V.I. Dal explains how

multitude, abundance, abundance, excess, superfluity.

In S.I. Ozhegov’s dictionary the interpretation is slightly different:

« Wealth- abundance of material values, money.”

We are accustomed to thinking that wealth is an unlimited amount of money and material goods. A rich person has every opportunity to spend money in unlimited quantities. However, can a person who spends 12-18 hours a day on his business be called rich? And even though he earns a sufficient amount of money, however, he cannot leave the business without damaging his wallet.

Now let's imagine that a person has neither money nor material forces. However, he has the ability to write poetry like Lermontov, paint pictures like Repin or write music like Beethoven. Can human knowledge and skills be considered valuable?

I think it is possible, because he can any day receive a decent amount of money for his talent, for his knowledge. Only in this case these values are intangible.
It turns out that the formulation of wealth should sound differently: “Wealth is material and intangible values, as well as money for which these values can be exchanged.”

There is a paradox called "Columbus's gold." After the colonization of America, huge amounts of gold were brought to Spain. According to our notions of wealth, Spain should have become a richer country after this. And after the import of gold, it turned out to be a poor outskirts of Europe. Something doesn't fit here.

Most likely there is a lack of proportion between money and goods. This means that the formulation of wealth needs to be changed again. “Wealth” is material and intangible values that are in the right proportion to the money for which these values can be exchanged.”

According to Robert Kiyosaki, it's not money at all, but time! This is time that you can live for your own pleasure without working.

Let's turn to morphology: in a word GOD ATSTVO main root base – GOD.
Old Slavic root GOD means “ bestowing wealth" , “bestower of well-being" .
Indo-European origin says the same thing: bhaga- “welfare" , “happiness" , and " endowing" , “bestower” .

While studying this issue, I came to the conclusion that “wealth” can be identified with the concept of “happiness”.

Each person has his own happiness. For some, happiness is health, for others, their children, family, for others, certain opportunities, for others, material well-being is not enough for complete happiness... And only the person who is happy (and let him be happy in his own way) is immensely rich.

These are my thoughts and observations. Readers' opinions on this matter are very interesting. I will be glad to see your comments.

See you in the next articles.

Wealth (Wealth) is the totality of all material and intangible values of a person or society as a whole.

The wealth of society in the traditional sense, which goes back to the founders classical school(A. Smith, D. Ricardo, etc.), was considered as a set of material wealth accumulated by the labors of both previous and present generations. Modern economics is critical of the position about the material content of wealth alone. Today, there is a different approach to understanding this category, namely, that wealth is everything that people value. Such a definition of wealth allows us to include in it Natural resources, and innate human abilities, and professional knowledge, And free time. From a theoretical perspective, this definition of wealth illuminates the various intricacies of this economic category. On the other hand, when it comes to international comparisons of national wealth and statistical calculations, such a broad definition of wealth makes it difficult (if not impossible) to calculate specific figures. We must also not forget that all the wealth of society can be represented both in monetary and in kind form. Therefore, when the value of money itself changes, one can come to different results of assessments of the same set of material goods. In addition, a change in the assessments of people themselves can lead to a change in the real size of the wealth of a certain state. For example, in the USSR a quantity of shoes was produced per year that far exceeded similar indicators in England, Germany and France combined. The production of metal-cutting machines, cement, etc. also exceeded the most developed countries in the world. But are these indicators reflecting the production of goods? real creation wealth in the country, if, for example, people bought shoes from domestic manufacturers only when they could not find imported ones? Is Russia poor or rich? You can always hear exactly the opposite answers to this question. Yes, we are poor, because... we don't have enough housing affordable prices, domestic clothing, domestic food, etc. Yes, we are rich, because we have enormous reserves of natural resources, a priority in many scientific research, qualified personnel. Sometimes the question is posed differently: if we are so rich, then for what reason are we so poor? Have we become richer if, for example, we increased gas and oil production at the cost of pollution? environment?

It should be noted once again that the understanding of wealth largely depends on people’s assessments. In many ways, this is a normative category and does not exist outside of people’s judgments about the value of any good. Wealth can also be represented as everything that expands a person’s choice, his alternative possibilities. From this point of view, money, things, free time, natural resources, and knowledge expand people's choices and can be equated to wealth.

It must always be viewed in the context of need satisfaction. For example, if goods are available in quantities in which they are able to satisfy all our needs to the point of complete saturation and are accessible, then we can say that we are rich. But more and more we are turning our attention to the normative context in defining the concept of wealth. Is a millionaire rich who is bedridden by illness and has lost physical and mental capacity? Is a yogi rich who lives on a minimum of food and is busy understanding God? What does pretty mean? popular expressions“the main wealth is freedom” or “the main wealth is health”? Is it possible to be free without having the amount of goods called the subsistence minimum?

All these questions, when analyzing the concept of wealth, are posed in order to emphasize the importance of normative, evaluative categories in economic theory.