The best economic definition of wealth that I have seen is George Gilder's from his 1980 book, Wealth and Poverty. He contrasted it to resources in general, and

The best economic definition of wealth that I have seen is George Gilder's from his 1980 book, Wealth and Poverty. He contrasted it to resources in general, and to riches, as: "Wealth is resources dedicated to future production." A car used as a status symbol or personal transport is riches, one used in business to generate more income is wealth; similarly with education for enjoyment versus education for future production, and so on. He also pointed out that since spending on the military and police is not productive, that though necessary to protect wealth, it is not itself wealth and should be used as thriftily as possible.