Surely the shift in the net median wealth based on real estate prices rather than any meaningful change in the real assets held by the average Swede or American in the past couple of years calls into question the validity of net median wealth as a meaningful measure of prosperity...<p>Not that there&#x27;s much doubt about the relative prosperity of the top <i>10%</i> of US citizens compared with the top 10% of Swedes, especially if they&#x27;re not living somewhere like SF or NY, but I can&#x27;t help thinking the people in the lower brackets <i>notice</i> the difference more. It&#x27;s not like a Swede who&#x27;s sufficiently smart to go to Harvard (and wealthy enough to pay for the course) can&#x27;t go there if they&#x27;re dissatisfied with the free higher education on offer in their own country. The parents whose kids are <i>vastly</i> more likely to die in infancy in the US than Sweden have rather fewer options.<p>I think you&#x27;re probably underestimating Europe&#x27;s &quot;access to culture&quot; too...