But a decade-by-decade look at per capita GNP [which is presented in the chart on the facing page] shows something remarkable: As a nation, we made relatively consistent progress throughout the century. So you might think that the economic value of the U.S.—at least as measured by its securities markets—would have grown at a reasonably consistent pace as well. That’s not what happened. We know from our earlier examination of the 1964-98 period that parallelism broke down completely in that era. But the whole century makes this point as well.
