Global wealth has climbed to $600 trillion—outpacing GDP and driven more by debt and paper gains than productivity, the McKinsey Global Institute finds in its latest research, Out of balance: What’s next for growth, wealth, and debt? In this virtual event, a panel of leading economists and central bankers discussed the findings and explored the forces behind today’s imbalances, the structural shifts from rising debt to AI reshaping economies globally, and scenarios for the decade ahead.
The session featured an overview of the report findings by authors Jan Mischke and Rebecca J. Anderson, followed by a panel moderated by Matt Peterson, Ideas Editor at Barron’s, including:
- Bill Dudley, Former President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Rebecca Patterson, Vice Chair, Bretton Woods Committee
- Alan Taylor, Member of Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England
- Olivia White, Senior Partner and Director, McKinsey Global Institute
Questions discussed during the event included:
- What is the most important imbalance policymakers and markets should focus on right now?
- How can we understand the interconnections between countries—can one experience a productivity acceleration while another undergoes a reset?
- With wealth concentration rising, how is inequality feeding into market volatility, political risk, and long-term return expectations?
- How do we reconcile the long-term productivity promise of AI with short-term market exuberance and the potential danger for capital misallocation?
- Does the faster growth of wealth compared to real economic output create new financial-stability risks similar to past bubbles?
For more on this topic, please watch the virtual event recording and read our report, Out of balance: What’s next for growth, wealth, and debt.