10th IMF Statistical Forum: Measuring the Tangible Benefits of Intangible Capital
November 16-17, 2022
In our increasingly dematerialized world intangible assets are transforming economies and driving growth. As a result, an increasing share of output, jobs, income and wealth is associated with firms where traditional tangible assets have been crowded out by intangible assets, such as marketing assets, data, and organizational capital. Yet macroeconomic accounting has lagged behind in valuing these forms of capital. What’s more, the mobility of intangible assets and firms’ strategies to minimize their worldwide taxes while maximizing overall profits implies growing tension between the nature and location of economic activity and its measurement system.
The 10th IMF Statistical Forum will explore how we can better measure intangible capital to better support investment policy, taxation policy and macroeconomic analysis.
Researchers, policymakers, statisticians, regulators and representatives from the private sector will come together to discuss:
- Why is it important that we measure investment in intangible capital? What implications does the greater importance of intangibles have for tax, fiscal, and monetary policy?
- What are the new forms of intangible capital that we need to consider when measuring economic activity?
- How can we measure these forms of intangible capital, including the valuation of intangible assets, their depreciation, and their sale?
Preliminary Agenda
|
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 |
|
|
8:00 AM |
Registration |
|
9:15 AM |
Welcoming Remarks by Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF |
|
9:20 AM |
Introduction to the Forum Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director, IMF Statistics Department |
|
9:30 AM |
Presentation – The Rise of Intangible Capital Janice Eberly, Senior Associate Dean for Strategy and Academics, the James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance, Northwestern University |
|
10:00 AM |
Session I: Panel Discussion — Why is it so important to capture intangible capital in our statistics? Moderator: David Wessel, Brookings Institution Kimberly Clausing, Eric M. Zolt Professor of Tax Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law Seamus Coffey, University College Cork, former chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Giovanni Dell’Ariccia, Deputy Director of Research Department of the IMF Janice Eberly, Senior Associate Dean for Strategy and Academics, the James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance, Northwestern University Pierce O’Reilly, Head of the Business and International Taxes Unit, OECD Tax Policy and Statistics Division |
|
11:00 AM |
Coffee Break |
|
11:30 AM |
Session II: How innovation is pushing the boundaries. Chair: Alfred Kammer, Director of the European Department of the IMF Eric Hazan and Lareina Yee (McKinsey & Company) Value Creation in the Metaverse Nicola Borri (LUISS Guido Carli University, Italy) with Yukun Liu, and Aleh Tsyvinski, The Economics of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Rob Smith (Midsummer Analytics) – Social Capital What It Is and Why Statisticians Should Care Audience Questions |
|
12:30PM |
Lunch |
|
2:30 PM |
Session III: Measuring Intangible Capital in Official Statistics Chair: Jim Tebrake, Deputy Director, IMF Statistics Department Fa’ed Rayyan (West Bank and Gaza) The impact of R&D on the labor productivity of enterprises Eurydice Fotopoulou with Richard Heys (Office of National Statistics, United Kingdom): Measuring intangible assets currently not capitalized Audience Questions |
|
3:30 PM |
Coffee Break |
|
4:00 PM |
Session III (continued): Measuring Intangible Capital in Official Statistics Sean Crick (Australian Bureau of Statistics): Valuing Data as an asset – Australian experience Jennifer Ribarsky (IMF, STA) Intangible Capital in the Update of the International Statistical Standards Audience Questions |
|
5:00PM |
Cocktail Reception |
|
Thursday, November 17, 2022 |
|
|
9:00 AM |
Session IV: Measuring Intangible Capital and its implications for Policy Chair: Vitor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF Rana Foroohar (Financial Times) Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World Federico Sallusti (Italian National Institute of Statistics): Measuring profit shifting by MNE’s in Italy Subir Lall (IMF, MCD) with Li Zeng, Intangible Capital, Aggregate Supply, and Inflation Challenges Carol Corrado (The Conference Board, US) with Jonathan Haskel, Massimiliano Iommi, Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Filippo Bontadini, Data, Intangible Capital, and Productivity Audience Questions |
|
10:45 AM |
Coffee Break |
|
11:15 AM |
Session V: Upgrading our Toolkit to Measure Intangible Capital Chair: Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director, Statistics Department, IMF Josh Martin and Cain Baybutt (Office of National Statistics United Kingdom): The “F-Words”: Why Surveying Business About Intangibles is So Hard Zachary Gast, International Accounting Standards Board: International Financial Reporting Standards and Intangible Assets Audience Questions |
|
12:15 PM |
Lunch |
| 2:00 PM |
Session V: Upgrading our Toolkit to Measure Intangible Capital (continued) Lucy Chung (Statistics Canada): Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy Adhi Kurniawan (Indonesia) with Atika Nashirah Hasyyati: Measuring intangible assets, such as intellectual property, branding, digital products, using machine learning and parametric approaches. Audience Questions |
|
3:15 PM |
Session VI: Innovation: Where are We Headed? Introduction by Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director, IMF Statistics Department Keynote Speech: Philippe Aghion, College de France, London School of Economics: The Promise of the Creative Destruction Paradigm One-on-one discussion Philippe Aghion, College de France, London School of Economics Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, IMF |
|
4:15 PM |
Closure of Forum |