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Measuring Capital in the New Economy

As the accelerated technological advances of the past two decades continue to reshape the United States’ economy, intangible assets and high-technology investments are taking larger roles. These developments have raised a number of concerns, such as: how do we measure intangible assets? Are we accurately appraising newer, high-technology capital? The answers to these questions have broad implications for the assessment of the economy’s growth over the long term, for the pace of technological advancement in the economy, and for estimates of the nation’s wealth.

In Measuring Capital in the New Economy, Carol Corrado, John Haltiwanger, Daniel Sichel, and a host of distinguished collaborators offer new approaches for measuring capital in an economy that is increasingly dominated by high-technology capital and intangible assets. As the contributors show, high-tech capital and intangible assets affect the economy in ways that are notoriously difficult to appraise. In this detailed and thorough analysis of the problem and its solutions, the contributors study the nature of these relationships and provide guidance as to what factors should be included in calculations of different types of capital for economists, policymakers, and the financial and accounting communities alike.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Carol Corrado, John Haltiwanger and Daniel Sichel
1. Measuring Capital and Technology: An Expanded Framework
Carol Corrado, Charles Hulten and Daniel Sichel
Comment: Edward C. Prescott
2. A New Approach to the Valuation of Intangible Capital
Jason G. Cummins

3. The Valuation of Organization Capital
Baruch Lev and Suresh Radhakrishnan
Comment: Timothy F. Bresnahan
4. Intangible Risk
Lars Peter Hansen, John C. Heaton and Nan Li
Comment: Susanto Basu
5. The Relation among Human Capital, Productivity, and Market Value: Building Up from Micro Evidence
John M. Abowd, John Haltiwanger, Ron Jarmin, Julia Lane, Paul Lengermann, Kristin McCue, Kevin McKinney, and Kristin Sandusky
Comment: Katharine G. Abraham
6. Measuring Organizational Capital in the New Economy
Sandra E. Black and Lisa M. Lynch
Comment: Kathryn Shaw
7. Pharmaceutical Knowledge-Capital Accumulation and Longevity
Frank R. Lichtenberg
Comment: Eric J. Bartelsman
8. R&D in the National Income and Product Accounts: A First Look at Its Effect on GDP
Barbara M. Fraumeni and Sumiye Okubo
Comment: Bronwyn H. Hall
9. Communications Equipment: What Has Happened to Prices?
Mark Doms

10. Information-Processing Equipment and Software in the National Accounts
Bruce T. Grimm, Brent R. Moulton, and David B. Wasshausen
Comment: Barry Bosworth
11. Growth of U.S. Industries and Investments in Information Technology and Higher Education
Dale W. Jorgenson, Mun S. Ho, and Kevin J. Stiroh
Comment: Michael J. Harper
12. Issues in the Measurement of Capital Services, Depreciation, Asset Price Changes, and Interest Rates
W. Erwin Diewert
Comment: Frank C. Wykoff
Remarks
Robert E. Hall
Baruch Lev
Erik Brynjolfsson and Lorin Hitt

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