Editing Fixed capital (section)

==Estimating the value==
There are two primary methods for estimating the stock of fixed capital in any nation: direct measurement of the capital stock and perpetual inventory calculations.<ref name="Young">Young, A., & Musgrave, J. C. (1980). Estimation of capital stock in the United States. The measurement of capital (pp. 23-82). University of Chicago Press.</ref> 
Attempts have been made to estimate the value of the stock of fixed capital for the whole economy using direct enterprise surveys of "[[book value]]", administrative business records, tax assessments, and data on [[gross fixed capital formation]], price [[inflation]] and [[depreciation]] schedules. A pioneer in this area was the economist [[Simon Kuznets]].<ref>Simon Kuznets, ''Gross capital formation, 1919-1933''. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1934.</ref>

The "perpetual inventory method" (PIM) used to estimate fixed capital stocks was invented by [[Raymond W. Goldsmith]] in 1951 and subsequently used around the world.<ref>[[Raymond W. Goldsmith]], ''A Perpetual Inventory of National Wealth''. Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 14. New York: NBER, 1951, pp. 5-74.</ref><ref name="Young"/> The basic idea of the PIM method is, that one starts off from a benchmark asset figure, and adds on the net additions to fixed assets year by year (using [[gross fixed capital formation]] data), while deducting annual estimates of economic [[depreciation]] based upon an explicit service life assumption,<ref name="Young"/> all data being adjusted for price inflation using a [[capital expenditure]] [[price index]]. In this way, one obtains a [[time series]] of annual fixed capital stocks. This data series can also be modified further with various other adjustments for prices, economic depreciation, etc. (several variants of the PIM approach are nowadays used by economic historians and statisticians).
{{blockquote|Estimates of fixed nonresidential business capital have been prepared in varying detail by the United States [[Bureau of Economic Analysis]] (BEA) since the mid-1950s, and estimates of residential capital have been prepared since 1970. (The bureau produces )... annual estimates for the years since 1925 of gross and net stocks, depreciation, discards, ratios of net to gross stocks, and average ages of ВИвнgross and net stocks in historical, constant, and current cost valuations by legal form of organization (financial corporations, nonfinancial corporations, sole proprietorships and partnerships, other private business). The fixed nonresidential business capital estimates are also available within each legal form by major industry group (farm, manufacturing, nonfarm nonmanufacturing), and the residential estimates are also available by tenure group (owner-occupied and tenant-occupied). Estimates of capital stocks (capital goods) and related measures by detailed types of assets are also available.<ref name="Young"/>}}