New Estimates of Federal Government Tangible Capital and Net Investment

50 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2004 Last revised: 7 Nov 2022

See all articles by Michael J. Boskin

Michael J. Boskin

Stanford University - The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Marc S. Robinson

Independent

John M. Roberts

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Date Written: December 1985

Abstract

Government capital formation raises a number of issues important to national economic well-being, yet the U.S., unlike most advanced countries, does not account for capital in its formal budget documents. We estimate depreciation of government capital using a methodology developed by Hulten and Wykoff which is based on used asset price data. We estimate a federal government net nonresidential capital stock of over $800 billion in 1984, more than 20% higher than estimated by the BEA. We also find much larger net federal investment since World War II than the BEA. The behavior of military and civilian structures and equipment is also examined.We analyze the potential importance of these results for measuring the net national savings rate, national wealth, the trend in government capital formation relative to private capital formation, and the relationship between net investment and deficits.

Suggested Citation

Boskin, Michael J. and Robinson, Marc S. and Roberts, John M., New Estimates of Federal Government Tangible Capital and Net Investment (December 1985). NBER Working Paper No. w1774, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=338823

Michael J. Boskin (Contact Author)

Stanford University - The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace ( email )

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Marc S. Robinson

Independent

John M. Roberts

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

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