Measuring Capital and Technology: An Expanded Framework

Posted: 12 Jul 2021

See all articles by Carol A. Corrado

Carol A. Corrado

The Conference Board; Georgetown University - Center for Business and Public Policy

Charles R. Hulten

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Daniel E. Sichel

Wellesley College; NBER

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2004

Abstract

Business outlays on intangible assets are usually expensed in economic and financial accounts. Following Hulten (1979), this paper develops an intertemporal framework for measuring capital in which consumer utility maximization governs the expenditures that are current consumption versus those that are capital investment. This framework suggests that any business outlay that is intended to increase future rather than current consumption should be treated as capital investment. Applying this principle to newly developed estimates of business spending on intangibles, we find that, by about the mid-1990s, business investment in intangible capital was as large as business investment in traditional, tangible capital. Relative to official measures, our framework portrays the U.S. economy as having had higher gross private saving and, under plausible assumptions, fractionally higher average annual rates of change in real output and labor productivity from 1995 to 2002.

Suggested Citation

Corrado, Carol A. and Hulten, Charles R. and Sichel, Daniel E., Measuring Capital and Technology: An Expanded Framework (2004). FEDS Working Paper No. 2004-65, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3883775

Carol A. Corrado (Contact Author)

The Conference Board ( email )

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Georgetown University - Center for Business and Public Policy ( email )

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Charles R. Hulten

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Daniel E. Sichel

Wellesley College ( email )

106 Central St.
Wellesley, MA 02181
United States

NBER ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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