Incentivising investment through accelerated depreciation: wartime use, economic stimulus and encouraging green technologies

This study looks at historical evidence of national jurisdictions from the First World War onwards using accelerated depreciation as a means to encourage investment, particularly in new technologies. In particular, it provides an overarching analysis of previous scholarly and technical literature on the implementation of these schemes. Overall, the study finds that approaches to the precise accounting methods used to encourage this innovation were dictated, in the main, by three predominant social discourses. In chronological order, these were national defence, economic growth and environmentalism. The historical evidence reveals a number of potential pitfalls associated with accelerated depreciation’s introduction, together with its more positive effects. Although the emphasis is on the historical application of accelerated depreciation schedules, the study reveals a number of problems associated with accelerated depreciation that should be borne in mind by future policymakers interested in the possibility of using accelerated depreciation to encourage investment.