Capitalism without capital : the rise of the intangible economy
(Book)

"With a new preface by the authors."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-265) and index.

This text discusses the growing importance of intangible assets and the role it has played in some of the big economic changes of the last decade. The authors argue that the rise of intangible investment is an underappreciated cause of phenomena from economic inequality to stagnating productivity. The authors bring together a decade of research on how to measure intangible investment and its impact on national accounts, showing the amount different countries invest in intangibles, how this has changed over time, and thinking on how to assess this. This text explores the economic characteristics of intangible investment, and discuss how these features make an intangible-rich economy fundamentally different from one based on tangibles. The text concludes by presenting three possible scenarios for what the future of an intangible world might be like, and by outlining how managers, investors, and policymakers can exploit the characteristics of an intangible age to grow their businesses, portfolios, and economies.