Innovation and growth in the knowledge-based economy

Abstract

If capital stock is considered in a broad sense, to include both physical and intellectual capital, the law of diminishing returns may not apply and the higher the investments in intangible assets the higher a country's growth rate. The so-called AK growth models by taking into account both tangible and intangible capital do succeed to establish a positive relationship between growth rate and the capital stock. The empirical studies confirm this relationship but they fail to make an explicit account of the contribution of intangible capital to growth. This stems from the fact that lots of investments in intellectual capital and other intangible assets are not counted as such in national income and product accounts. The development of the AK models help to identify the neglected elements of growth and show the importance of taking them explicitly into account in order to better explain the current growth rates of the new economy.