Capital Formation - Example of Capital Estimates

Example of Capital Estimates

In the 2005 Analytical Perspectives document, an annex to the US Budget (Table 12-4: National Wealth, p. 201), an annual estimate is provided for the value of total tangible capital assets of the USA, which doubled since 1980 (stated in trillions of dollars, at September 30, 2003):

Publicly owned physical assets:

Structures and equipment . . . . . . $5.6 Federally owned or financed . . . $2.2 Federally owned . . . . . . . . . . .$1.0 Grants to state and local govt . . . $1.0 Funded by state and local govt . . . $3.3 Other federal assets . . . . . . . . $1.4

Subtotal (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6.9 trillion

Privately owned physical assets:

Reproducible assets . . . . . . . . $28.7 Residential structures. . . . . . . $12.4 Nonresidential plant & equipment . $11.8 Inventories . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.5 Consumer durables . . . . . . . . . $3.1 Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.2

Subtotal (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $38.9 trillion

Education capital:

federally financed . . . . . . . . . $1.4 financed from other sources . . . . $44.0

Subtotal (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . $45.4 trillion

Research and development capital:

federally financed R&D . . . . . . . $1.1 R&D financed from other sources . . $1.7

Subtotal (4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .$2.9 trillion

TOTAL ASSETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $94.1 trillion

Net claims of foreigners on US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4.2 trillion

Net wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .$89.9 trillion

(Note: these data obviously do not include financial assets, such as estimated by the McKinsey Quarterly, only "tangible" assets in US territory. The total value of marketable financial assets in the USA was estimated in 2007 at about US$46 trillion . This total obviously does not include assets, deposits and reserves that are not traded. The data series on national wealth provided in the budget annex were discontinued by the administration of President Barack Obama).