Recognition of Business and Government Expenditures for Software as Investment: Methodology and Quantitative Impacts, 1959-98

The comprehensive benchmark revision of the national income and product accounts (NIPA’s), released in October of last year, newly recognized business and government expenditures for computer software as investment. This paper describes the methodology for annual and quarterly estimates of software investment, consumption of fixed capital, and business incomes. This description is an expansion of the technical notes describing the methodology that appeared in the August and December issues of the Survey of Current Business. The paper also describes the effects on the NIPA’s and their tabular presentation, of recognizing software.