But the real treasures are non-financial assets—buildings, land, subsoil resources—which the IMF believes are worth three-quarters of GDP on average in rich economies: $35 trillion across the OECD.
He then moves on to a subterranean walking tour of the city, indicating the location of rock and water below the subsoil, before taking the reader back to the surface.
In some places the workmen may have to dig down only a few feet before they reach the rock, but in other places both the soil and the subsoil may be many feet deep.