Wealth:
As per Alfred Marshall, wealth is something which is useful, scarce, capable of getting exchanged, and can be owned by somebody.

Characteristics of wealth:
1. It should possess the characteristic of usefulness:

• Wealth must be useful in satisfying human wants or needs. Hence, goods which are useful in satisfying needs of human beings can be considered as wealth.
• Example: House, vehicle, precious jewelry, etc. are all wealth.

2. It should be scarce:

• Those commodities which are scarce in supply in relation to their demand and possess exchange-value over and above being useful are called wealth.
• In economics, goods which are useful but not scarce and do not have exchange-value like sunlight and air are not considered wealth.

3. It should have physical or intellectual existence:

• Wealth should have an existence which can be exchanged.
• A person’s mental or physical ability and aptitude are qualities that become his asset, but cannot be exchanged.
• The ability of a scientist to think is his quality and not wealth but the novel idea createo and sold by the scientist can become his wealth.
• In modern world the intellectual abilities of human beings like the ability to create new ideas are exchanged for money in the market. Hence intellectual ability to create novel ideas and goods is called wealth.

4. Wealth constitutes goods which are capable of exchange:

• Wealth is an economic concept and so it must exchangeable.
• The objective of wealth is to satisfy present as well as future consumption and other needs. So, it must be capable of exchange.

Example:

• If we purchase a house today than it will satisfy the current need of living in a house as well as it can be sold in the future to obtain money and buy some other goods. Hence, house is a wealth.
• Precious metals, land, etc. also possess similar characteristic and so are considered wealth.

5. Durability:

• Wealth must possess durability.
• Goods that are durable goods can be used in future for exchange and for satisfying future needs and hence become wealth.
• Goods which perish after using just once cannot be used for future transactions so cannot be considered wealth.

Example:

• Land, house, precious jewelry, shares, etc. are durable goods and hence , can be considered wealth.
• Food grains or dairy items produced by a farmer are not wealth if they perish in a very short time. Similarly, labour of a labourer is also not called wealth.
• However, if food grains can be stored in cold storage for a long time and their market value increases in future then those items become wealth. In this sense, we can say that new technology can redefine wealth.