Chemical capital spending will stay weak: After holding down global capital expenditures to a 1 % gain in 1981, major U.S. chemical companies plan a 6% increase in 1982

TLDR: The authors found that companies are waiting until two things happen to take advantage of the new incentives from Washington: the economy has to start growing again, and companies' large excess plant capacity has to dry up.

Abstract: A few heads must be shaking in Washington, D.C. After giving U.S. chemical and other industries a Whitman's Sampler-sized box of tax sweeteners to encourage job-creating investment, the government is being greeted with very modest gains in capital spending plans for 1982. It isn't quite so illogical as it looks, however. Companies have universally praised the new incentives from Washington but are waiting until two things happen to take advantage of them. The economy has to start growing again, and companies' large excess plant capacity has to dry up. Since both of these developments look somewhat distant at this midrecessionary moment, companies are keeping a decidedly light hand on the spending button. C&EN's annual survey of 17 leading basic chemical companies finds that, on average, ...