The Oxford Dictionary of Economics

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investment

investment
The process of adding to stocks of real productive assets. This may mean acquiring fixed assets, such as buildings, plant, or equipment, or adding to stocks and work in progress. This is the Keynesian definition of investment: it is a flow concept. Investment goods are goods designed to be used for investment rather than consumption. Gross fixed investment is spending on new capital equipment; net investment is gross investment minus ‘capital consumption’, an estimate of the loss of value of capital goods through wear and tear, the passage of time, or technical obsolescence. Investment allowances are tax allowances which lower taxation on the profits of firms which invest. Foreign direct investment is investment spending carried out abroad. Some forms of spending designed to raise future productivity, such as research and development (R&D) to...

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