Capitalism Without Capital
The Rise of the Intangible Economy
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Capitalism Without Capital
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
About this listen
The first comprehensive account of the growing dominance of the intangible economy
Early in the 21st century, a quiet revolution occurred. For the first time, the major developed economies began to invest more in intangible assets, like design, branding, R&D, or software, than in tangible assets, like machinery, buildings, and computers. For all sorts of businesses, from tech firms and pharma companies to coffee shops and gyms, the ability to deploy assets that one can neither see nor touch is increasingly the main source of long-term success.
But this is not just a familiar story of the so-called new economy. Capitalism without Capital shows that the growing importance of intangible assets has also played a role in some of the big economic changes of the last decade. The rise of intangible investment is, Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake argue, an underappreciated cause of phenomena from economic inequality to stagnating productivity. Haskel and Westlake bring together a decade of research on how to measure intangible investment and its impact on national accounts, showing the amount different countries invest in intangibles, how this has changed over time, and the latest thinking on how to assess this. They explore the unusual economic characteristics of intangible investment and discuss how these features make an intangible-rich economy fundamentally different from one based on tangibles.
Capitalism without Capital concludes by presenting three possible scenarios for what the future of an intangible world might be like and by outlining how managers, investors, and policymakers can exploit the characteristics of an intangible age to grow their businesses, portfolios, and economies.
Author bio: Jonathan Haskel is professor of economics at Imperial College London. Stian Westlake is a senior fellow at Nesta, the UK's national foundation for innovation.
©2018 Princeton University Press (P)2018 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Capitalism Without Capital
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 23-04-18
Repetitive and disappointing
The title and reviews led me to believe this was a revolutionary new concept of capitalism without capital. Some kind of gift economy or as yet unimagined world changing piece of genius. But it’s just about intangible vs tangible assets.
Constant repetition of a single point. Tangible assets are tangible. Intangible assets are not. Tangible assets can be locked away. Intangible assets cannot. Etc. Scalability, IP, spillovers, yada yada.
The waffle about how we define and measure GDP and other intellectual concepts is a bean counter’s wet dream. Not my cup of tea.
There are sporadic analyses of companies and countries that make for interesting listening as they shed a tiny light on the concept.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-10-18
Interesting but difficult to digest
The subject material is fascinating but I struggled to make it through it and retain all of the details. I'm a big fan of audio books but perhaps academic ones such as this are better read on paper. Nice job by the narrator overall.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-03-20
Interesting insights about our economy
Offers interesting insights into how our (perhaps not so stagnating) economy is evolving into one without assets. Covers the perks and challenges that come with intangibles as well.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-04-18
ok, but too dry sometimes
too many remarks like X shown in a paper... I would rather get a direct statement on what was shown. The book contains brilliant ideas, overviews and examples, but is sometimes overly-hedgy academic and dryily indirect.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-01-19
Very good, listened twice
Really interesting and very well delivered. Lots of the insights a very relevant to many modern companies and economies. So good I've listened to it again.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-03-18
Excellent!
The author excellent describes how intangible assets have become more important in the economies of developed nations, and how individuals, businesses and public institutions might respond to the challenges.
The layout is clearly structured and the authors are very knowledgeable in economics and related fields, and the audiobook is narrated by the always excellent Derek Perkins. Highly recommended
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 16-05-19
Repetitive and not concrete argument
Author spends the first few chapters re-iterating the accounting principle of intangibles, from various angles.
Later chapters give arguments for why intangibles, or the rise of value in intangibles in our economy have influenced house prices in urban areas through to social wealth inequality. Although the arguments are plausable, they are only one factor to consider and likely not the main factor.
For example, arguing that the increase in inequality has been notably influenced by the increase in urban property prices because people have had to move to cities in order to realise new value between intangibles and tangible elements of an economy doesnt sound conclusive, especially when you try to think of some examples and why only a dense population of cosmopolitans in an area could achieve this.
However, it does serve well to highlight the shift of the economies of western nations to bridge intangible elements and the impact in people's jobs and economic drivers.
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