A healthy economy isn’t built on asset bubbles and debt pyramids

In the animated Soviet film The Golden Antelope, inspired by Indian folklore, a magical antelope tries to save a boy from a greedy raja by promising him as much gold as he wants. When she asks whether there can be too much, the raja laughs: “You can never give me too much gold.” But when the gold begins to bury him, he cries “enough” – and loses everything.Today’s financial system risks repeating the raja’s mistake. For too long, rising nominal wealth, asset prices and the fortunes of the ultra rich have been treated as signs of broader stability. Yet modern wealth increasingly exists not in chests of gold, but in market valuations.According to the World Federation of Exchanges, global stock market capitalisation rose by 18.5 per cent in 2025, to reach almost US$152 trillion.