Over the last five years, investment in technology grew at an average annual rate of 25% in real terms, accounting for anywhere from 20% to 33% of total economic growth. Having over-invested during the expansion’s heady years, corporations are in the uncomfortable process of digesting excesses. If the virtuous cycle indeed turns vicious, the slowdown would grow more pronounced and prolonged, confounding hopes for a V-shaped recovery in the second half of 2001.