Ken Jarboe

Blogger on the Intangible Economy

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Splurging on an experience—the power of the intangible https://t.co/jH3wa4HGOC

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Intangibles surplus and goods trade deficit flatten https://t.co/kQpTDI1Z0N

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Intangibles power Nvidia to #1 in WSJ Best Companies for the Future. But its success is not what you think. Nvidia’s story is one of intangibles: organizational assets, relational capital, and human capital—to name a few. https://t.co/BwoPlcF6Bj

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Tangible and intangible payrolls up in May—long term outlook troublesome as Education & Health Care carry labor market https://t.co/8GhwZqxIXm

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Apropos my earlier posting on lending on trust, the market also invests on blind faith
https://t.co/V7UuIZRhLr

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

How better data can strengthen intangible financing https://t.co/ejI4lj3y0R

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Economic growth not as strong as originally thought https://t.co/yIGtYnt4Zg

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

BEA takes on measuring human capital in a new research paper. The paper treats formal education as an asset rather than a current expense. It is the latest step toward a better picture of the economy and, hopefully, better policy.
https://t.co/i7kwpDnNTV

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Reliable statistics are an important intangible asset. Data seen as unreliable increases uncertainty; increased uncertainty causes decision makers to adopt a more conservative approach toward investment and hiring, reducing economic growth.
https://t.co/8TZIx2rzYP

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Goldman Sachs tells clients that AI investments are understated because spending on intangible capital such as workflow reorganization, is treated as a pure cost. Once again, traditional accounting fails to capture what is really going on in the economy.
https://t.co/VxvHq8FbYg

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Robots are posed to revolutionize inspection and repair. Is manufacturing next or is it still mostly hype? And what about construction?
https://t.co/55BsMo79oP
https://t.co/IDm3F7Perv

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

April jobs data shows a twist on the tangible-intangible split. Job growth was powered by tangible services specifically in Trade, Transportation & Utilities while almost all the growth in intangible payrolls came from Educational & Health Services https://t.co/z1p8S6ZFxq

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Similar to February, the overall deficit grew by $2.5 billion to $60.3 billion in March and the surplus in intangibles grew. The good news was the reversal of last month’s decline in the trade balance in intellectual property. https://t.co/aUb2BqgKOr

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Intangibles and PwC’s look at the future of manufacturing https://t.co/czwlHQ8l93

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Great example of how the tangible and intangible economies are intertwined. “The tangible AI economy: Caterpillar as AI darling” https://t.co/PM1K84W4ws #axiosam

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

I estimate that without the surge in knowledge-related investments (i.e. these investment growing by the save amount as in 4Q25), the GDP growth rate would be 1.2%

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Knowledge-related investment surge powers the 1Q26 2% growth. This tracks with what we have been hearing about investments in AI and data centers. Overall other business investments declined, mostly due to a drop in manufacturing facilities investments. https://t.co/AE3Sip3gxl

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Not surprisingly, intangible-producing companies have higher AI usage (almost 25%) compared to only 10% of tangible-producing companies. And AI adoption still has to go with over 60% saying AI was not applicable to their industry. https://t.co/KfZ5Vp6W65

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Can AI increase construction productivity? https://t.co/5zBeJt4Q9e

[Ken Jarboe @IntangibleEcon]

Accounting for intangibles in Oracle’s new strategy https://t.co/YVPTcgq8hH