Working Paper Series no. 63: Investment in France since the Beginning of the Eighties (In French)

Abstract

Since the early 1990's, the total investment in the business sector seems to be lower than the level predicted by the dynamics prevailing in the 1980's. The usual explanatory variables of investment (demand, profit, degree of utilization capacity) are not sufficient to explain its evolution in the recent years. However investment has a quite different dynamics according to the type of goods that is considered. In the 1990's, the behavior of the equipment investment is in accordance with the dynamics of the 1980's, mainly explained by activity and profit. But, whereas building investment seems to be complementary to the equipment until 1990, both investments move afterwards in a different way. The unexpected behavior of the overall investment in the recent years originates in the building investment.

Delphine Irac and Pascal Jacquinot
April 1999