Accounting for Non‐Marketed capital

Abstract

Intangible capital is a key input to production that is distinct from tangible capital. Most forms of tangible and intangible capital have observable, pecuniary values. Their complement is non‐marketed capital. This paper studies non‐marketed capital from the points of view of an investor contemplating investing in a project and of a manager running the project. At the point of investment, an apparent positive net present value is realized through the marshalling of non‐marketed capital. When capital is viewed all‐inclusively, a full accounting reveals that (1) optimally timing investment serves to maximize the value of the non‐marketed capital eventually associated with an investment project, (2) the “full” net present value at investment is zero, (3) the internal rate of return is identically equal to the external interest rate, (4) Tobin's q is identically equal to one, and (5) marginal analysis is inapplicable to non‐marketed capital and thus to all capital.