[fulafel]

I think getting into the numbers is the right idea. I wouldn't know where to look for the $$ volumes of issues/IPOS vs eg dividends or stock trades, if someone does please chime in :)

My gut feeling is that despite being common, issuing stock is still peanuts compared to the old stock trades/dividends.

[perl4ever]

I don't think the numerical comparison you want to make has any meaning at all, let alone something to do with the relative importance of the activities of trading vs. issuing stock.

The ratio of stock traded to stock issued can be anything from zero to infinity.

We could imagine having "high frequency trading" of car loans producing a huge volume and it wouldn't change the fact that the car loans exist because people need transportation.