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What is the U.S. gross investment in intangibles? (At least) one trillion dollars a year!

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  • Leonard I. Nakamura

Abstract

This paper argues that the rate of intangible investment ? investment in the development and marketing of new products ? accelerated in the wake of the electronics revolution in the 1970s. The paper presents preliminary direct and indirect empirical evidence that US private firms currently invest at least $1 trillion annually in intangibles. This rate of investment roughly equals US gross investment in nonresidential tangible assets. It also suggests that the capital stock of intangibles in the US has an equilibrium market value of at least $5 trillion.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonard I. Nakamura, 2001. "What is the U.S. gross investment in intangibles? (At least) one trillion dollars a year!," Working Papers 01-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:01-15
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    Cited by:

    1. Baruch Lev, 2003. "Remarks on the measurement, valuation, and reporting of intangible assets," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 17-22.
    2. Mariela Dal Borgo & Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel & Annarosa Pesole, 2013. "Productivity and Growth in UK Industries: An Intangible Investment Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(6), pages 806-834, December.
    3. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2005. "Measuring Capital and Technology: An Expanded Framework," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 11-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Estelle P. Dauchy, 2013. "The Efficiency Cost of Asset Taxation in the U.S. after Accounting for Intangible Assets," Working Papers w0199, New Economic School (NES).
    5. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    6. Pennacchi, George G. & Santos, João A.C., 2021. "Why do banks target ROE?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Konstantinos A. Melachroinos & Nigel Spence, 2013. "Intangible Investment and Regional Productivity in Great Britain," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(7), pages 1048-1064, July.
    8. Roth, Felix & Sen, Ali & Rammer, Christian, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Firm-Level Productivity – Evidence from Germany," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 9, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    9. Che, Natasha Xingyuan, 2009. "Sectoral Structural Change in a Knowledge Economy," MPRA Paper 19839, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Russ, Meir, 2016. "The probable foundations of sustainabilism: Information, energy and entropy based definition of capital, Homo Sustainabiliticus and the need for a “new gold”," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 328-338.
    11. Hulten, Charles R., 2010. "Growth Accounting," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 987-1031, Elsevier.
    12. Anne Wyatt & Margaret Abernethy, 2008. "Accounting for Intangible Investments," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(2), pages 95-107, June.
    13. Kim, Keungoui & Bounfour, Ahmed & Nonnis, Alberto & Özaygen, Altay, 2021. "Measuring ICT externalities and their contribution to productivity: A bilateral trade based approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    14. Hyuna Park, 2019. "Intangible assets and the book‐to‐market effect," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(1), pages 207-236, January.
    15. Lucilene Morandi & Eustáquio J. Reis, 2004. "Estoque De Capital Fixo No Brasil, 1950-2002," Anais do XXXII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 32nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 042, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].

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    Gross domestic product; Investments;

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