When Intangible Investment Overtook Physical Capital
IP-products investment as a percentage of structures and equipment investment · current dollars · 1925–2024. IP investment first matched structures in 1992 and equipment in 2020. By 2024 it was 181% of structures investment and 109% of equipment investment.
What does it show?
IP investment first matched structures in 1992 and equipment in 2020. By 2024 it was 181% of structures investment and 109% of equipment investment.
Methodology
Divide annual current-cost gross investment in IP products by investment in structures and equipment separately. A value of 100 means equal nominal investment. Crossover years are the first annual observations at or above parity and are not adjusted for subsequent reversals. 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. A nominal crossover can reflect both quantities and relative asset prices; it does not establish that the real volume of IP investment exceeded the comparator in the same year.