The Delamination of the Layers
Three layers in one unit: what a year produces (GDP), what has piled up on top (wealth), what changes hands in markets in a year (market flow). At 1 CE the three are almost a single line. Today they are three detached bands - and the one on top is the one that was born last.
The vertical axis is logarithmic, all in trillions of dollars (2025 equivalent). The shading between bands is the gap between two layers: a hair on the left, a widening wedge on the right. Around 1990 market flow overtakes accumulated wealth and rises to the top - a layer detached from production and from stock, spinning at its own frequency.
World GDP (annual)Accumulated wealth (stock)Market flow (in-year)
Today: GDP 118 T$ · wealth 734 T$ · market flow 9.735 T$
The physical base over the same period (1 CE = 1)
Population ×43 · materials ×186 · materials per capita ×4.3. The three value layers grew 700 – 9,000× on top of that.
Four acts
10,000 – 8,000 BCE
1. Bonded layers
Hunter-gatherers. There is no separate thing called value; production, stock and flow are one. The chart starts at 1 CE because there is no single world wealth figure before it.
8,000 BCE – 1800 CE
2. First leverage
Farming. Wealth becomes measurable (land, gold, buildings) but there is no paper. The three layers are still stuck together, they just have numbers now.
1800 – 1950
3. Break-off
Coal and industry. GDP and wealth rise together; two wars gouge the wealth band. The market layer is born below wealth in 1900.
1950 – today
4. Free spin
Financialisation. Market flow overtakes wealth around 1990; by 2025 it turns at 13× the accumulated wealth stock. The top layer no longer waits for the bottom.
The same story told the other way: The Fan of Six Numbers →Historical-series methodology (Layer 2) →