The economy is 1.5% bigger than official numbers say, if you count data

A new study proposes a way to measure the economic value of data that national accounts currently miss. It turns out the economy is about 1.5% larger than official numbers show, if you count data as an asset.

Governments and businesses make decisions based on national economic numbers. Those numbers currently ignore the value of data, both as an asset and as a form of payment. This paper quantifies that missing value, showing that official GDP figures are undercounting the economy by a measurable amount.