Government spending or
expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In
national income accounting the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual or collective needs of the community, is classed as
government final consumption expenditure. Government acquisition of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is classed as government investment (government
gross capital formation). These two types of government spending, on final consumption and on gross capital formation, together constitute one of the major components of
gross domestic product.