TRENDS IN PUBLIC INVESTMENT

This is an analysis of federal spending to determine how much of it can be counted as investment, and how large such investment is relative to net private investment and to the federal deficit. Three underlying questions are considered: what is investment? what is its federal component? and how should its value be measured? The first question offers no problem; NIPA (National Income and Product Accounts) data on net private investment include new physical assets that will be used to produce future output. Answering the second question requires appraising which federal purchases are similar to such private investment. The third question calls for consistent and reliable measures of value. This study approaches these issues using the framework of the NIPA as a starting point. This framework counts as investment those private purchases of durable structures and equipment that contribute to the production of the future national output.

• Corporate Authors:

  United States Congress

  Congressional Budget Office
  Washington, DC  United States  20510
• Publication Date: 1987-12

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 87 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Deficits; Expenditures; Federal government; Governments; Investments; Private enterprise; Trend (Statistics)
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00464627
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 31 1987 12:00AM