The Capital Base Needs Very Different Levels of Reinvestment
Gross investment as a share of year-end net stock · U.S. private nonresidential assets · 1925–2024. Gross IP investment equaled 29.6% of its net stock in 2024—about seven times the structures rate.
What does it show?
Gross IP investment equaled 29.6% of its net stock in 2024—about seven times the structures rate.
Methodology
Divide annual current-cost gross investment by year-end current-cost net stock for each private nonresidential asset class. This is a gross-investment intensity measure, not a growth rate; both numerator and denominator are current-cost BEA estimates. 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-to-stock ratios rise when investment accelerates, when the net stock is short-lived, or when relative prices change; the chart does not isolate those mechanisms.