What Is the U.S. Gross Investment in Intangibles? (At Least) One Trillion Dollars a Year!

Abstract

This paper argues that the rate of intangible investment-investment in the development and marketing of new products-accelerated in the wake of the electronics revolution in the 1970s. The paper presents preliminary direct and indirect empirical evidence that US private firms currently invest at least $1 trillion annually in intangibles. This rate of investment roughly equals US gross investment in nonresidential tangible assets. It also suggests that the capital stock of

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