Lately, there has been optimism about a U.S. economic revival, in part because of hopes that business investment will pick up. Although business investment growth peaked in early 2012, a slight uptick in the latest data has led some to argue that a new upturn is in the offing.

In this context, ECRI’s latest report analyzes the primary determinants of future business investment, revealing whether a business investment upturn is actually in the cards for the U.S. economy, or if such talk is just false hope.