The world is wealthier now than it’s ever been — but only on paper. Much of this prosperity may prove illusory as a global shift toward less liquid investments undermines the basis of valuation. Private equity, infrastructure, and private credit have become a bigger share of investment…

Emerging-market stresses have been building since at least 2013. Investors may have forgotten the effect of the “taper tantrum” on the so-called Fragile Five — Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa — a term coined by Morgan Stanley to describe their vulnerability to capital outflows…

While the US accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s economic output, more than half of all global currency reserves and trade is in dollars. This is the result of the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, the effect of which was enhanced when the link between the dollar and gold ended in the 1971…