[djbebs]

That's not the same thing as value being destroyed.

Indeed, Japanese companies have on the whole been profitable throughout that time and have passed on some of those profits to their owners, so value has been created.

The stock market bubble bursting didn't destroy value, it simply revealed that some investors overpaid

[jimkleiber]

If a company pays no dividends and its stock goes to zero, it's a complete loss. Not sure if there's any value created. If a company takes investment money and never sells a product and then runs out of money, I suppose you could argue maybe value is created for others in the spending of that investor money, but that argument may apply for casinos as well.

But maybe I'm missing the point you're trying to make.