| Practice area: | Economics of Education | Education and Labour Markets | Labour market economics |
|---|---|
| Client: | N/A |
| Published: | May, 2012 |
| Keywords: | modelling qualitative analysis |
London Economics were commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to conduct a literature review of the evidence regarding the impact of investment in intangible assets on productivity spillovers. The review provides a summary of the theory underpinning the concepts of intangible assets, their measurement, as well as the theory of spillovers. We also review the available evidence relating to the channels through which spillovers occur and how spillovers are facilitated. In the empirical section of the report, we review and assess a very large number of articles that consider the direct effect and/or the indirect effect associated with the investment in intangible assets, further disaggregated according to the nature of the intangible asset (so called economic competencies, scientific and creative property and computerised information), as well as the level at which the impact occurs (i.e. individual, firm, industry, and region etc). Finally, we attempt to illustrate the relative effect of the direct impact of intangible assets to the indirect effect.