Rediscovering IBISWorld’s Industry Research Reports, I went through and redid my analysis on the overhead of private property in the United States; I have generalized the scope somewhat to be an analysis of the overhead of capitalism, though it’s still difficult to justify including certain industries. The table I created can be found here in CSV. I separated the cost streams into the following groups:
- Private property-only expenditure: Were the institutions of private property not to exist, neither would this cost.
- Government + private property-only: Were either the government or private property not to exist, neither would this cost.
- Cost added due to capitalism: Were capitalism or a similar system not pervasive, this cost would be somewhat reduced, or, were some other system in place, a comparable cost would probably exist. This includes costs that serve to predict actual future costs while taking private profits, as well as transportation whose utilization is increased due to commerce.
- Cost multiplied due to capitalism: Were capitalism or a similar system not pervasive, this cost would be significantly reduced. This includes costs which could be replaced by shared infrastructure and retail stores.
I calculated four totals, one with group 1 only, one with groups 1 & 2, one with all groups, and one which is a weighted total, using the formula
1.0 * G1 + 1.0 * G2 + 0.25 * G3 + 0.75 * G4
Here are the totals I found, in billions: