“The short answer, Van, is that it doesn’t. Tech companies, for example, make up 39% of the US stock market, but the tech industry only accounts for 6% of the US economy and 2% of its jobs. As for whether that gap will eventually narrow – well, that’s the $64,000 question. The economy might well shift to where capital’s being deployed over the next few years – that is, toward the industries forward-looking stock markets are already dominated by. And some might argue that it doesn’t matter if people in less productive industries lose their jobs if fast-growing, more productive sectors make up for the lost earnings (and then some). The more immediate concern, though, isn’t whether the economy will catch up to stock markets, but if stock markets will “correct” to more closely reflect the economy. Valuations are, in most cases, being propped up by central banks, and that won’t last forever – which means some analysts think it’s only a matter of time before we see a stock market crash of 10% or more.”