Measuring Intangible Assets in an Emerging Market Economy: An Application to Brazil

43 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Mark A. Dutz

Mark A. Dutz

World Bank

Sergio Kannebley

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Maira Scarpelli

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Siddharth Sharma

The World Bank

Date Written: July 1, 2012

Abstract

This paper measures intangible investment in Brazil. It estimates that during 2000-2008, annual business spending on intangible assets or knowledge-based capital in Brazil averaged about 4 percent of gross domestic product. While this is significantly lower than comparable rates for the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, which hover around 11 percent, it is not too far below estimates for other developed countries such as Italy and Spain. Of the total expenditure on intangible assets in 2006, about 23 percent was spent on computer software and databases, 43 percent on innovative property (predominantly research and development and new product development in financial services), and 34 percent on economic competencies (which comprises branding, employee training and organization improvement). Brazil's share of spending on economic competencies is markedly lower than that observed in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the analysis finds it to be the slowest growing of the major intangible categories. Finally, having extended the intangible investment estimation methodology to produce more disaggregated (industry-level) estimates, the authors show that intangible investment is positively correlated with recent export growth and total factor productivity estimates across manufacturing industries. This suggests that intangible or knowledge-based capital, as measured here, can account for part of the hitherto unexplained component of productivity growth.

Keywords: Debt Markets, Emerging Markets, Economic Theory & Research, Investment and Investment Climate, E-Business

Suggested Citation

Dutz, Mark A. and Kannebley, Sergio and Scarpelli, Maira and Sharma, Siddharth, Measuring Intangible Assets in an Emerging Market Economy: An Application to Brazil (July 1, 2012). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 6142, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2116140

Mark A. Dutz (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Sergio Kannebley

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Maira Scarpelli

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Siddharth Sharma

The World Bank ( email )

2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
213
Abstract Views
1,085
Rank
258,178
PlumX Metrics