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Refereed Articles

Estimating Capital Stocks Around the Globe: An Application of the Perpetual Inventory Method with Time- and Spatially Varying Depreciation Rates

Michael Berlemann, Florian Samuel Peters, Jan-Erik Wesselhöft (2026),
Review of Economics 77(2), 143-181.

Reliable capital stock data are essential for empirical research in economics. However, existing datasets often suffer from limitations that hamper international comparability. In this paper, we introduce a new database of internationally comparable capital stock estimates. Building on the methodology developed by Berlemann and Wesselhöft (2014. “Estimating Aggregate Capital Stocks Using the Perpetual Inventory Method: A Survey of Previous Implementations and New Empirical Evidence for 103 Countries.” Review of Economics 65 (1): 1–34; 2017. “Aggregate Capital Stock Estimations for 122 Countries: An Update.” Review of Economics 68 (2): 75–92), we construct three panel datasets using the Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), based on investment series from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and time-varying depreciation rates. The three variants allow researchers to choose between the extensive coverage of a U.S.-based profile, the broader empirical basis of an international average, and the greater local relevance of country-specific depreciation rates. To facilitate transparency, robustness analyses, and future research, all datasets are made publicly available through the Dashboard of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) and will be updated on an annual basis.

 

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External authors

Florian Samuel Peters

Jan-Erik Wesselhöft