| Abstract: | This paper presents an interpretation of major changes affecting the modern economy. Our postulate is that the defining trend is the shift to the intangible. The source of economic value and wealth is no longer the production of material goods but the creation and manipulation of dematerialised content. The logic of dematerialisation is pervasive and ubiquitous and affects all sectors and activities. It profoundly transforms economic relationships and interactions, the ways firms and markets are organised and transactions are carried out. It is also unsettling, to the extent that it runs squarely against some of the key tenets of the conventional logic of economics. The intangible economy raises a whde series of measurement issues. More fundamentally, it changes the role, the function, and the perception of economic measurement data. Official agencies no longer have the monopoly of economic data: a lively and diversified measurement and monitoring industry has emerged. Statisticians need to undertake a comprehensive appraisal of their business. Adaptingto the new environment will require major changes in three key areas: conceptual foundations, modus operandi and temporal outlook. If measurement systems are to capture the essence of the economy of today and tomorrow, intangibles have to move from the periphery to the core of these systems. |
