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Intangible capital and productivity: Firm-level evidence from German manufacturing

Author

Listed:
  • Wolfhard Kaus
  • Viktor Slavtchev
  • Markus Zimmermann

Abstract

This article analyses the importance of intangible capital for firm productivity using comprehensive official firm-level data from German manufacturing. Both aggregate intangible investment and the share of investing firms increase over time. However, the distribution of intangible investment is heavily right-skewed, with many firms investing nothing or little and few investing a lot. This holds both for manufacturing overall and within narrowly defined industries. The group of top investors is highly persistent from year to year, and persistence increases over time. Production function estimations reveal a positive output elasticity of intangible capital which is small on average but increases substantially with firm-level intangible capital intensity. There are also effect heterogeneities by firm size and enterprise group membership, especially among high-intangible-intensive firms. Finally, considering intangibles as production factors reduces the measured dispersion of Total Factor Productivity (TFP), mainly by tightening the upper part of the TFP distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfhard Kaus & Viktor Slavtchev & Markus Zimmermann, 2024. "Intangible capital and productivity: Firm-level evidence from German manufacturing," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 970-996.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:76:y:2024:i:4:p:970-996.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpad051
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    Cited by:

    1. Klaus S. Friesenbichler & Agnes Kügler, 2026. "Short and medium-term effects of intangible capital on firm growth: firm-level evidence from austrian microdata," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 53(1), pages 113-148, February.
    2. Roth, Felix & Sen, Ali & Rammer, Christian, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Firm-Level Productivity – Evidence from Germany," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 9, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Roth, Felix & Rammer, Christian, 2025. "Intangible assets and productivity at the firm level: R&D versus non-R&D intangibles," ZEW Discussion Papers 25-062, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Wu, Yan & Niu, Peiyuan & Wu, Yunqiao, 2025. "Does the digital sector affiliation matter for the productivity of multinational firms?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Axenbeck, Janna & Niebel, Thomas, 2021. "Climate Protection Potentials of Digitalized Production Processes: Microeconometric Evidence," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238007, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    6. Bajgar, Matej & Berlingieri, Giuseppe & Calligaris, Sara & Criscuolo, Chiara & Timmis, Jonathan, 2019. "Industry concentration in Europe and North America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103427, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Marie Le Mouel & Alexander Schiersch, 2020. "Knowledge-Based Capital and Productivity Divergence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1868, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Klaus Friesenbichler & Agnes Kügler & Julia Schieber-Knöbl, 2022. "Unternehmensproduktivität über Sektoren in Österreich. Erste Evidenz von Mikrodaten," WIFO Research Briefs 21, WIFO.
    9. Xie, Jie & Tian, Jiayu & Hu, Yong & Wang, Quan & Dai, Zhaoqiong, 2025. "Imported intermediate goods, intellectual property protection, and innovation in Chinese manufacturing firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Luca Menicacci, 2025. "Real effects of investment tax incentives: evidence from Italian private firms," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 29(2), pages 409-451, June.
    11. Bajgar, Matej & Criscuolo, Chiara & Timmis, Jonathan, 2025. "Intangibles and industry concentration: a cross-country analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126673, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Carolina Hintzmann & Josep Lladós-Masllorens & Raul Ramos, 2021. "Intangible Assets and Labor Productivity Growth," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, May.
    13. Caggese, Andrea & Pérez-Orive, Ander, 2022. "How stimulative are low real interest rates for intangible capital?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    14. Grégory Claeys & Maria Demertzis, 2021. "The productivity paradox- policy lessons from MICROPROD," Bruegel Policy Contributions 40536, Bruegel.
    15. Zhou, Kuo & Qu, Zhi & Guo, Yiman & Hu, Runnian, 2025. "Does a firm's intelligent technological transformation matter for its access to financial resources?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    16. Zhao, Yiming & Li, Haitong & Miao, Zicong & Li, Keyang, 2025. "Digital M&As, knowledge distance, and labor productivity: Technical and organizational perspectives," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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