Because motivations constitute an essential part of economics, understood in the ethics-related sense, of economic systems and of religious and non-religious worldviews, they are also essential for the conception of wealth creation. The wide range of motivations discussed in the economic, sociological and psychological literatures can be divided into two large groups of self-regarding and other-regarding motivations. Self-regarding motivation in the form of self-interest is prevailing in economics and other social sciences, commonly attributed to the “economic man” as self-interest maximizer. While self-interest is acknowledged as a powerful motivation for creating private wealth in the market place, it is critically examined in its often exclusive claim of rationality and is utterly insufficient for creating public wealth from the local to the global level. Other-regarding motivations such as a sense for the common good, solidarity and justice are needed for the creation of public wealth.