The Four Market-Premium Eras
Contiguous years when market equity exceeded Fed-estimated current-value net worth · U.S. nonfinancial corporations · 1945–2025. The current premium era has lasted 17 years—longer than any earlier era—and peaked at 137% above current-value net worth, versus a prior-era maximum of 74%.
What does it show?
The current premium era has lasted 17 years—longer than any earlier era—and peaked at 137% above current-value net worth, versus a prior-era maximum of 74%.
Methodology
Use calendar-year-end observations from Federal Reserve Financial Accounts table S.11.1.b for U.S. nonfinancial corporate business. Total equity at market value (LM103181105.Q) is compared with net worth, defined as assets minus non-equity liabilities (FL102090005.Q). The market premium is the arithmetic residual: total equity minus recorded net worth. Intellectual-property products already recorded at current cost (LM105013765.Q) are retained as context but remain inside recorded net worth. Values are end-of-period and not seasonally adjusted. A premium era is a contiguous run of calendar-year-end observations with total equity at market value above current-value net worth. Duration is the number of annual observations in that run; peak premium is the maximum percentage gap within it. Limitations: This is the U.S. nonfinancial corporate sector, not the S&P 500; it includes a broader corporate and foreign-direct-investment equity universe. The residual is not a direct valuation of patents, brands, software, data, organizational capital, or other intangible assets. It also reflects expectations, risk premia, sentiment, and measurement differences. Recorded net worth already includes some intellectual-property products at current replacement cost, so 'recorded' is not synonymous with 'tangible.' Federal Reserve Financial Accounts history is revised; the source release is pinned so the prototype remains auditable. Annual observations can conceal shorter within-year crossings, so era boundaries describe year-end conditions rather than exact market dates. The current era is ongoing; its duration and peak can change with new observations or Financial Accounts revisions.