Do People Count As Assets?

Do people count as assets? It depends on what you mean by asset. People are not assets like tangible fixed assets such as equipment. People cannot be owned. People do not depreciate. If they are assets, people are intangible assets.

In the industrial age, the gross domestic product was largely driven by tangible asset investments that appear on balance sheets - equipment, buildings and land. This remained true well into the 1980's. From 1980 to 1985, 88% of the increase in GDP was associated with growth in tangible assets. In today’s knowledge – or information – age, the driver of GDP growth has shifted from tangible assets to intangible ones. From 2000 to 2005, only 10% of GDP growth was related to tangible assets. Intangible assets drove 90% of GDP growth
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