Three Speeds of the Intangible Economy
Intellectual-property products as shares of investment, net capital stock, and depreciation · current cost · 1925–2024. By 2024, IP products were 40.5% of investment and 41.5% of depreciation—but only 15.1% of accumulated net capital.
What does it show?
By 2024, IP products were 40.5% of investment and 41.5% of depreciation—but only 15.1% of accumulated net capital.
Methodology
For every common year in BEA Fixed Assets tables 1.1, 1.3, and 1.5, calculate intellectual-property products as a share of private nonresidential gross investment, year-end net stock, and depreciation. All three shares use equipment, structures, and IP products as the denominator. 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. Investment is a flow, net stock is an accumulated balance, and depreciation is an annual charge; their shares are comparable compositions but not interchangeable quantities.