The growth of money and world finance In the mid-1980s the bonds circulating in the G10 countries, issued almost entirely by governments, amounted to $ trillion, or 70% of these countries’ domestic product. In 1996 the stock of bonds had tripled to reach $ trillion; output at current prices had doubled., the ratio had risen to 105%.
The stock of shares increased faster; the value of bonds and shares rose from 116% of GDP in 1985 to 220% in 1996. The growth in the quantity of money also exceeded that in output; the reduction in the income velocity of circulation was concentrated in the second half of the 1980s.