Enterprise Value and the Value of Data

Paper by Dan Ciuriak: “Data is often said to be the most valuable commodity of our age. It is a curiosity, therefore, that it remains largely invisible on the balance sheets of companies and largely unmeasured in our national economic accounts. This paper comments on the problems of using cost-based or transactions-based methods to establish value for a nation’s data in the system of national accounts and suggests that this should be complemented with value of economic rents attributable to data. This rent is part of enterprise value; accordingly, an indicator is required as an instrumental variable for the use of data for value creation within firms. The paper argues that traditional accounting looks through the firm to its tangible (and certain intangible) assets; that may no longer be feasible in measuring and understanding the data-driven economy…(More)”