If the trend in expensed items that should be capitalized is growing faster than reported earnings, capitalizing these items will generally accelerate measured earnings. Pessimists about the sustainability of such strong earnings point to measured productivity growth which, while strong, is less extraordinary than earnings. Optimists argue that traditional measures understate true productivity growth and point to statistical discrepancies. It is conceivable that some nominal expenditures are not recorded. The BEA designates the expenditure-side estimate as the official one but publishes the discrepancy between the two measures.
Optimists also argue that imperfections in price measurement tend to understate true productivity.