The Romans noticed this trend as well, and kept their bookkeeping simple by
not bothering with economic agents other than heads of households. Since
their households also had many more dependents than ours (relations and
domestics), this arrangement probably curtailed ownership into the age
groups mentioned, as well as providing great incentive for parricide.
An amusing side effect is that widows and orphans, the sort of people whom
the SEC currently tries to protect through investor qualification, were
actually unusually well off in Roman times; others might have had the
benefit, but never the ownership, of their patrimony.
Rohit asks:
>[Only 5% of the nation's workforce has to have a clue??]
Isn't the invisible hand the attractiveness of capitalism? Even if the
entire workforce is bepetered*, pessimal resource allocation is still
avoided. If democracy is the form of government in which the people get
what they deserve; capitalism may be the form of economy in which they get
better, despite.
-Dave
* per the Peter Principle...