Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
> The turnover time of capital varies markedly between the 4 countries
> (Australia, Canada, Japan, USA).
> Capital turnover about 13 times a year in Japan in 1990, about 6 times a
> year in North America, and ony about 5 times a year in Australia [I can't
> figure out how they came up with these fascinating numbers]....There is
> evidence that in all 4 countries the number of turnovers has increased
> particularly rapidly since the mid 1970s...These changes have offset any
> tendency of the rate of profit to fall, especially since the mid 1970s" p.
> 322
Yes, I would like to see these figures also.
> This strikes me as dubious since output growth rates should have been
> higher if turnover was increasing so sharply?
>
Not really. In the US, turnover increases, because the U.S. investment in structures (probably associated with deindustrialization and outsourcing; Doug knows more about the data than I do) has been declining while there is more investment in quickly depreciating computers and the like. However, this stuff depreciates rapidly and so, by definition, requires more investment to maintain it. As a result, the capital stock does not increase as much as if the same investment had gone into long-lived durable capital.--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901