Fixed assets and consumer durable goods for 1993-2003

Survey of Current Business, Sept, 2004 by Paul R. Lally

Acknowledgments

The estimates of fixed assets and consumer durable goods were prepared by the National Income and Wealth Division and the Government Division. The estimates of private fixed assets and consumer durable goods were prepared under the direction of Paul R. Lally, who was assisted by Randal T. Matsunaga, Michael D. Glenn, Nadia F.P. Sadee, Michael T. Cusick, and Julia T.D. Nguyen. Arnold J. Katz guided the review of all net stock estimates and the implementation of the updated auto depreciation schedules that were developed by Brian K. Sliker. The estimates of government fixed assets were prepared under the direction of Steven Payson, who was assisted by D. Timothy Dobbs, Jennifer A. Bennett, and Charles S. Robinson.

Brent R. Moulton, Associate Director for National Economic Accounts, Carol E. Moylan, Chief of the National Income and Wealth Division, and Brooks B. Robinson, Chief of the Government Division, provided overall supervision.

(1.) Eugene P. Seskin and Shelly Smith, "Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts," SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS 84 (August 2004): 7-28.

(2.) See the box "Data Availability" in Paul R. Lally, "Fixed Assets and Consumer Durable Goods," SURVEY 84 (May 2004): 8.

(3.) For a discussion of chain-type measures, see J. Steven Landefeld, Brent R. Moulton, and Cindy M. Vojtech, "Chained-Dollar Indexes: Issues, Tips on Their Use, and Upcoming Changes" SURVEY 83 (November 2003): 8-16.

(4.) At the National Bureau of Economic Research, the business cycle dating committee determined that a peak in business activity, which marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession, occurred in March 2001.

(5.) See Douglas S. Meade, Stanislaw J. Rzeznik, and Darlene C. Robinson-Smith, "Business Investment by Industry in the U.S. Economy for 1997," SURVEY 83 (November 2003): 25-26.

(6.) See Nicole Mayerhauser, Shelly Smith, and David F. Sullivan, "Preview of the 2003 Comprehensive Revision to the National Income and Product Accounts: New and Redesigned Tables," SURVEY 83 (August 2003): 22-24.

(7.) In the perpetual inventory method, the net stock is a weighted summation of past investment in that asset. For more information about this method, see Fixed Assets and Consumer Durable Goods in the United States, 1925-97 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 2003).

(8.) For more about these adjustments, see Fixed Assets, 24.

(9.) Eugene P. Seskin and Daniel Larkins, "Improved Estimates of the National Income and Product Accounts for 1929-2002: Results of the Comprehensive Revision," SURVEY 84 (February 2004): 7-29.