How Much Does the UK Invest in Intangible Assets?

We attempt to replicate for the UK the Corrado, Hulten and Sichel (2005, 2006) work on spending on intangible assets in the US. Their work suggests private sector expenditure (investment) on intangibles is about 13% (11%) of US GDP 1998-2000, with intangible investment about equal to tangible capital investment. Our work, using a similar method, suggests the UK private sector spent, in 2004, about £127bn on intangibles, which is about 11% of UK GDP. The implied investment figure is around £116bn (10% of GDP) which is about equal to UK investment in tangible assets. Of the £127bn expenditure, (in round numbers) about 15% is spent on software, about 10% on scientific R&D, almost 20% on non-scientific R&D (design, product development etc.), about 14% on branding, about 20% on training and the rest on organisational capital.Intangible assets, R&D, Training, Organisational capital, Investment

What Happened to the Knowledge Economy? ICT, Intangible Investment and Britain's Productivity Record Revisited

A major puzzle is that despite the apparent importance of innovation around the "knowledge economy", UK macro performance appears unaffected: investment rates are flat, and productivity has slowed down. We investigate whether measurement issues might account for the puzzle. The standard National Accounts treatment of most spending on "knowledge" or "intangible" assets is as intermediate consumption. Thus they do not count as either GDP or investment. We ask how treating such spending as investment affects some key macro variables, namely, market sector gross value added (MGVA), business investment, capital and labour shares, growth in labour and total factor productivity, and capital deepening. We find (a) MGVA was understated by about 6% in 1970 and 13% in 2004 (b) instead of the nominal business investment/MGVA ratio falling since 1970 it is has been rising (c) instead of the labour compensation/MGVA ratio being flat since 1970 it has been falling (d) growth in labour productivity and capital deepening has been understated and growth in total factor productivity overstated (e) total factor productivity growth has not slowed since 1990 but has been accelerating.Intangible assets, Productivity, R&D, Training, Organisational capital, Investment

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

L'approccio economico al comportamento familiare: i modelli non-unitari

Questo lavoro è volto ad illustrare i principali modelli non unitari di scelta della famiglia che si sono sviluppati a partire dagli anni ottanta. Tali modelli si possono suddividere in due gruppi a seconda della branca della teoria dei giochi utilizzata: modelli cooperativi e modelli non cooperativi. La terminologia è leggermente fuorviante, la caratteristica distintiva non è la cooperazione o meno, ma la possibilità di realizzare accordi vincolanti (modelli cooperativi) e l’impossibilità di fare ciò (modelli non cooperativi). Nel primo caso si avranno scelte efficienti mentre, nel secondo, l’efficienza andrà indagata volta per volta. L’importanza di questi modelli è che essi abbandonano l’approccio unitario, di cui Becker aveva fornito le fondamenta teoriche, secondo il quale la famiglia si comporta come se fosse un singolo agente con proprie preferenze e un proprio vincolo di bilancio. Tale approccio comporta implicazioni che sono state rifiutate da molti studi empirici. Tra queste, quella il cui rifiuto ha avuto maggior peso nell’indebolire l’approccio unitario è l’ipotesi di income pooling che consiste nel fatto che, se la famiglia massimizza una propria funzione di utilità soggetta al vincolo di bilancio familiare dove i redditi dei membri sono messi in comune, allora soltanto il reddito totale influenzerà la scelta. Studi empirici basati su dati di diversi paesi hanno invece mostrato che la distribuzione del reddito modifica le scelte della famiglia. I modelli non unitari, non implicando l’ipotesi di income pooling, non presentano questo problema. Ancora non sembra esserci un modello generalmente accettato, anche se i modelli non cooperativi, permettendo d’indagare l’efficienza, acquisiscono sempre una maggiore importanza. In mancanza di un modello universale, la scelta del modello dipenderà dal problema specifico da analizzare