Macro Indicators of Intangible Assets and Economic Policy

This chapter builds on the research performed by the team of the PRISM network headed by Patrizio Bianchi and co-ordinated by Sandrine Labory. The research showed that the intangible economy neither means that some new assets have suddenly appeared nor that a new buzzwords has been coined to be used in political rhetorics. Intangible assets have always existed but what is new is the increasing importance they have taken in recent years. The chapter shows two things. First, there are important intangible assets that have tended to be neglected, such as social capital. Second, there are important complementarities between assets that have to be taken into account in order to formulate adequate policies