Where the profits come from

The Kalecki–Levy identity, computed on today's data: an accounting decomposition that must balance — where each dollar of corporate profit arithmetically came from. This page is not a timing tool — the timing lenses live on the main page.

AS OF 2026Q2 · estimate of Aug 26, 2026 · revision stage 2 of 3 · all sources through 2026Q2

The read

CHARACTERIZATION, NEVER A SIGNAL — PERSISTENCE DESCRIBES; IT DOES NOT PREDICT

Today's profit share is carried by fiscal and payout flows — dividends recycling (+7.09% of GDP, p93 of its own history) and the federal deficit (+5.49%, p87) — while business investment, the organic prop, runs below its normal band (+3.81%, p9).

  • No source crossed a band boundary this quarter — the 5th straight quarter of this configuration.
  • Closest to change: money flowing abroad (0.37 points of GDP from its band edge) and the federal deficit (1.09), both narrowing toward their bands.

These columns sum to reported corporate profits exactly — every quarter since 1947; the statistical discrepancy is a real, small leg, not a plug.

The live era (2020–) is federal-deficit-dominant, and the main page reads the margin at +1.41σ versus trend — that stretch rides on the flows above, not on investment.

Today's mix

Today's level by source — each source's share of GDP against its own middle-50% band, with its move vs four quarters ago; this quarter's change by source is the main page's "why" line.

−9% of GDP0+9%
one shared axis, all rows
ADDS — SORTED BY SIZE
Dividends recycled
+7.09% of GDP
+2,304.3 $B
p93 of own history+7.09 now vs +7.41 four quarters ago63q above band
Government (all in)
deficits + government investment
+7.07% of GDP
sum of its members — bands live on the member rows
Business investment (net)
+3.81% of GDP
+1,237.6 $B
p9 of own history+3.81 now vs +3.95 four quarters ago5q below band
DRAINS — SORTED BY SIZE
Money flowing abroad
-3.16% of GDP
-1,025.0 $B
p19 of own history-3.16 now vs -3.83 four quarters ago24q below band
Household saving
-2.01% of GDP
+652.4 $B
p97 of own history-2.01 now vs -3.74 four quarters ago9q above band
The statistical discrepancy
-0.74% of GDP
+240.9 $B
p39 of own history-0.74 now vs -0.79 four quarters agoinside its band

Bars: today's contribution (dark marker) against the source's own middle-50% historical band (amber underlay), % of GDP, zero aligned on the one shared axis. Direction reads are vs four quarters ago — stated on every chip. Latest-basis data, labeled; September's annual update revises history and the methodology says so.

The eras

eraavg margincharacter (from the computed dominants)
2020–LIVE10.74%federal-deficit-dominant + the capex boom
THE FULL MIX (%GDP) net investment +4.22 · govt investment +0.79 · dividends +7.54 · household saving -5.74 · govt federal +7.92 · govt state local +0.14 · current account -3.51 · stat discrepancy -0.63 n=26q
2009–20199.88%dividends-led (the deficit narrative for this era fails its own arithmetic — 5.73 vs 5.33)
2001–20087.83%investment-led
1980–20005.91%investment-led
1947–19796.26%investment-led

Era boundaries frozen at the charter; a new era row only by recorded amendment. Only the top row is live.

The capex drill

1%2%3%4%5%6%19501960197019801990200020102020
▬ info-processing equipment▬ software▬ structures▨ boom windows● component peaks

"Never-seen levels" is true of software only (2.51% of GDP vs the 2001Q1 peak of 1.55%, still rising); equipment (2.45%) sits below its dot-com peak (2.91%, 2000Q4); structures (2.73%) below its own 2023Q4 peak (3.39%). Latest-basis data, labeled. The acceleration rule tested here was a documented pass — the methodology carries the full record. The 2000–02 unwind is shown as history, not forecast: one corporation's capex is another's revenue, and the unwind mechanically took profits down with it.

Methodology → · ← back to Corporate Profit Share