This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the overall magnitude
of intangible investment and the impact of this intangible investment on the behavior
of the capital stock and on the value of capital goods.
I begin by constructing a data set to document firms’ expenditures on an identi-
fiable list of intangible items in Canada. I then examine the implications of treating
intangible spending as the acquisition of final (investment) goods on estimates of GDP
growth for Canada. I find that investment in intangible capital by 2002 is almost as
large as the investment in physical capital. Furthermore, the growth in GDP and
labor productivity may be underestimated by as much as 0.1 percentage point per
year during this same period.
I proceed by measuring the size of the stock of the intangible capital in Canada
using newly released data on the market value of all securities in the economy. The
approach taken relies on a quantitative application of the q-theory of investment to
generate the quantity of capital owned by firms. I find that the intangible capital
stock accounted for approximately 30% of overall capital since 1994. Of this, the
R&D reported by national accounts makes up only 23%. These results imply that
official Canadian statistics failed to account for 26% of the value of the capital stock
in their 2005 quarterly data collection.
Finally, I extend the q-theory of investment to model explicitly the decision of
firms to invest in intangibles. I then use the model to measure the contribution of
intangible goods to the overall capital stock in the U.S. The model departs from
the one mentioned earlier in that it highlights the embodiment of intangible goods
in tangibles and the role of relative price movements in the measurement of the
contribution of each type of investment to the overall capital stock. I find that the
growth in the overall capital stock from the late-80s until 2000 was driven mainly by
an increase in the contribution of intangibles. However, the contribution of intangibles
fell consistently after 2000. These results underscore the importance of accounting
for the movements in the price of intangibles rather than focusing only on their rising
share in overall investment. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2008-06-26 09:32:06.389
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OKQ.1974/1266 |
| Date | 30 June 2008 |
| Creators | Belhocine, Nazim |
| Contributors | Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.). Theses (Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.)) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1019870 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner. |
| Relation | Canadian theses |
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