UK investment: high, low, rising, falling?

Nicolas Bloom
Stephen Bond

Published on 1 April 2001

This note examines the evidential basis for claims that UK investment is rising, and the broader picture on investment in the UK in recent years.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has claimed recently that 'business investment ... as a share of our economy' is 'over 14 per cent, higher than at any time in forty years' (Budget Speech, 7 March 2001). The Treasury has published a graph that appears to show that business investment as a share of GDP is now higher in the UK than in the US, France or Germany. This note examines the evidential basis for these claims, and the broader picture on investment in the UK in recent years.