Ken Jarboe

Economic growth not as strong as originally thought intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/28/eco…

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. bea.gov/research/paper…

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. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/19/rel…

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. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/fai…

Robots are posed to revolutionize inspection and repair. Is manufacturing next or is it still mostly hype? And what about construction? washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/… intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/rob…

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 intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/ano…

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. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/05/non…

Intangibles and PwC’s look at the future of manufacturing intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/int…

Great example of how the tangible and intangible economies are intertwined. “The tangible AI economy: Caterpillar as AI darling” #story2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">axios.com/newsletters/ax… #axiosam

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%

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. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/kno…

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. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/28/ai-…

Can AI increase construction productivity? intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/can…

Accounting for intangibles in Oracle’s new strategy intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/acc…

Rebuilding efforts after the California wildfires provide an opportunity for innovation intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/15/reb…

Can a building be an intangible asset? Yes, if the building in part of the company’s story and the story is an important part of the company’s intangibles. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/can…

Trust, fiduciary duties and AI intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/10/tru…

Here we go again. GDP revisions reveal a weak, unbalanced economy. BEA revised 4Q25 downward to show a growth rate of only 0.5% - but while business investment is weak, knowledge-based investment continues. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/09/onc…

China’s trade in intangibles is growing intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/08/chi…

Unfortunately, we do not yet have the vocabulary to clearly articulate this new production structure. The drafting of the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing is an opportunity to change the narrative. intangibleeconomy.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/tho…

Thoughts on a National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing. Manufacturing strategy needs to be about more than manufacturing and embrace new realities: · fusion of manufacturing and services · importance of intangible assets · shift from making things to making value