Measuring the intangible content of goods traded on international markets. An exercise on the "Made in Italy" vs. the "Made in China" case.

This article aims at proposing a simple, easily applicable, but still reliable methodology, based upon the analysis of price differentials, designed for quantifying the intangible versus tangible attributes embedded in commodities traded on the contemporary international markets. In the analysis exercise presented, we compared different products of Italy and China through disaggregating the available statistical data and highlighting the qualitative differences between "Made in Italy" and "Made in China" goods. The relationship between intangible assets, at firm and territory level, and the intangible contents of goods are also discussed, and implications for firms' strategies and industrial policy are drawn.