Intangible Assets and Investments at the Sector Level: Empirical Evidence for Germany

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Non-technical summaryIn Europe, policy has acknowledged that nowadays knowledge has become a key factor for firms to survive and grow in the increasingly globalised economy. This has found expression in the Lisbon agenda and also in the current EU2020 strategy that emphasizes that growth should be smart, sustainable, and inclusive. Smart growth means developing economies based on knowledge and innovations.A key characteristic of knowledge is its intangible nature which makes it hard to measure its amount, quality or effects. In a recent work, Corrado et al. (2005Corrado et al. ( , 2009 henceforth CHS) proposed an approach that defines three broad categories of intangible assets: Investment in computerized information (software, computerized databases), innovative property (e.g. R&D, copyright, licences, spending on new architectural and engineering designs) and economic competencies (brand equity, firm specific human capital and organizational capital). Using the CHS approach, evidence at the macro level has shown the importance of investment in intangible assets for economic growth in many countries around the world. But it has also been revealed that there is a large heterogeneity across countries and that European countries are lagging behind the US.Different reasons might explain this finding, leading to quite different policy conclusions. On the one hand European firms might invest less in knowledge capital than their US competitors within the same industry. On the other hand it might be explained by differences in industry structure and differences across industries in the amount and composition of intangible investment.This paper investigates the role intangible capital plays for economic growth in different sectors in Germany. It consists of two major parts. In the first part, we aim at measuring spending and investment in intangibles at the sector level. We provide different data sources, shed light on differences across sectors but also compare these figures with investment in physical capital and with investment in intangibles in the UK as European benchmark (see Marrano and Haskel 2006). In the second part, we explore the role of intangible assets for stimulating growth at the sector level by performing growth accounting analyses.We find that German firms have intensified their efforts to invest in intangible capital from 1995-2006 by 30% (computerized information: +100%, innovative property: +40%, economic competences: +25%). Nearly half of the inv...

Measuring intangible assets—A review of the state of the art

“…Corrado et al (2014Corrado et al ( , 2017 takes the analysis to the industry level and investigates if and how intangibles affect sectoral growth. Empirical work using an expenditure-based approach to measurement has been mainly grounded in the theoretical framework set up by CHS (Crass et al, 2015;Crass & Peters, 2014;Marrano et al, 2009;Roth & Thum, 2013;Squicciarini & Le Mouel, 2012;van Ark et al, 2009).…”

Intangible Capital Indicators Based on Web Scraping of Social Media

“…Apart from measuring intangibles at the sectoral and total economy level, a number of firm-level surveys with special focus on intangibles were conducted (Awano et al, 2010a;Awano et al, 2010b;Perani and Guerrazzi, 2012;European Commission, 2014). Furthermore, there exists a number of studies analysing the impact of knowledge-based capital on firm performance based on pre-existing general firm surveys (Crass et al, 2014;Di Ubaldo and Siedschlag, 2020;Rammer et al, 2020).…”

Determinants of intangible capital investment in Vietnam: A firm‐level analysis

“…However, the effect of IC investment is highly heterogeneous. At the sectoral level, IC investment largely concentrates in a few sectors (e.g., IT, finance and communication services) and therefore can boost these sectors to grow faster than others (Borgo et al, 2013; Corrado et al, 2014; Crass et al, 2015; Miyagawa & Hisa, 2013). At the firm level, it is found that firm‐specific characteristics such as size, age and human capital endowment are positively associated with the propensity and intensity of IC investment, which in turn contributes to the firm's productivity growth (Arrighetti et al, 2014; Chappell & Jaffe, 2018).…”