Intangible assets are of growing importance to corporate competitiveness and economic performance. They include R&D, human capital, innovation in products and in organisation, trademarks and patents, networking and software. This path-breaking book provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of intangible investment and its effect on public policy in Europe. The authors find that the growing importance of intangibles is transforming the direction of public policies in Europe, particularly industrial, R&D, competition and trade policies. They conclude that government policies must recognise the fact that intangible investment is becoming the key element in bringing about durable growth and accord at least the same priority to intangible factors as to physical investment. This work should be essential reading for students interested in this new field of economic analysis, national and international policymakers, and industrialists involved in the non-physical economy.

This section covers a wide range of new approaches to a crucial area of economics. It addresses the impact of game theory, the new institutional economics and the interaction of economics and business strategy.