What happened to the increase in corporate earnings in OECD countries?

Corporate profitability in OECD countries has increased significantly in the last 20 years. We seek to determine what the increase in these earnings has been used for , among the different possible uses: Increas ing distributed dividends; Reducing debt ; Increasing investments; Carrying out acquisitions; Increasing cash reserves; Buying back shares . We see that the increase in earnin gs has only been used to finance acquisitions and, since 2004, to buy back shares . So the assessment of the use of the increase in profitability in OECD countries is probably negative , since it has not boosted investment, and has exclusively been used for financial purposes .