New Investment Is Running Ahead of the Capital Stock
IP share of investment minus IP share of net stock · percentage points · 1925–2024. The IP flow–stock gap reached 25.4 percentage points in 2024: 40.5% of new investment versus 15.1% of net stock.
What does it show?
The IP flow–stock gap reached 25.4 percentage points in 2024: 40.5% of new investment versus 15.1% of net stock.
Methodology
Subtract IP products' share of year-end private nonresidential net stock from their share of annual gross investment. Both shares are calculated from the same three BEA asset classes and current-cost basis. The result is a percentage-point composition gap, not a valuation premium. Limitations: BEA's intellectual-property category covers software, R&D, and artistic originals—not brands, organizational capital, customer relationships, data, or every economically valuable intangible. Current-cost values combine quantity and price change; these charts do not measure real growth unless explicitly stated. BEA revises Fixed Assets history; the generator pins the workbook vintage and reruns component and period checks. The gap widens with faster IP investment, faster IP depreciation, or relative-price changes; it does not isolate a single cause.