In the following discussion, a number of theories and sources of data from psychology, sociology, and economics are borrowed and incorporated into an asset-based welfare theory. On occasion, an observation, a story, or a bit of reasoning is added to the analysis. As with most new ideas, the major theoretical problem is not that no theory exists, but rather that various pieces of theory and evidence have not previously been put together in a way that illuminates the new idea. This chapter attempts to make some of these conceptual connections regarding the welfare effects of assets.