Enterprise Value and the Value of Data

Data is widely acknowledged as the essential capital asset of the modern economy, yet its value remains largely invisible in corporate balance sheets and understated in national economic accounts.

In this paper, considering trends in the US economy, Dan Ciuriak estimates that data rents account for more than two percent of GDP, representing a layer of value beyond the investment flows currently captured in GDP. The implications, he writes, are profound for national accounting methodologies and also flag risks for economic policy in small open economies that lack the scale to effectively capture data rents, since investing at less than critical scale may not recover costs and may result in negative productivity outcomes.

CIGI’s Digital Assets in a Deglobalized World project examines the evolving role of digital assets, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized assets, within the broader context of the global financial system. The project includes a series of papers exploring the different roles that digital assets can take as geopolitical dynamics and financial assets interact, considering various scenarios of the global order and the future technological environment.

Below, read more about the two most recent papers.

“Effective regulation can create an environment in which innovation can take place safely. But in the digital finance sector, the novelty of the products and platforms and their multi-faceted nature pose significant challenges. Beyond these regulatory challenges, political and geopolitical factors play a role.”

Lane discusses the interlinkages between digital assets and the real economy, then reviews specific issues associated with stablecoins, noting that their ostensible safety gives them greater potential for systemic harm. He also briefly discusses where CBDC fits in. Finally, he examines the disruptive potential of a wider shift of financial transactions onto distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms.

Digital assets and DLT have developed along different paths in China and Hong Kong. China has trialled its CBDCs program but has imposed strict regulations on cryptocurrencies since 2017, completely banning the trading and mining of them since 2021, whereas Hong Kong has adopted an open and inclusive policy toward virtual assets, establishing mechanisms and arrangements to regulate their trading.

He looks at the context and specific reasons behind these different approaches to digital assets, as well as the latest developments and regulations in both mainland China and Hong Kong, concluding with an exploration of broader lessons from the practices and policies in both regions.

Sep. 24 and Sep. 25 – 7:00 a.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): Opportunities in digital finance are emerging in India and China and on the African continent. The Future of Digital Finance Conference will delve into the topics of regulatory collaboration, global governance, financial inclusion and technical advancements in cross-border payments across these three regions. Hosted by CIGI, this virtual event will convene policy makers, industry experts, academics and civil society stakeholders to exchange insights, identify synergies and propose actionable policy solutions.

Calling researchers! We invite authors to submit a policy brief abstract on a related policy area by Friday, August 1. Learn more about the submission and selection process.

With the boom in chatbots, some artificial intelligence (AI) companies are promising that their tools “can help address the needs of anxious and isolated consumers who need support but cannot afford professional psychotherapy.” And, although “recent clinical research shows that a carefully developed AI therapy chatbot may result in positive outcomes for some patients,” Susie Alegre cautions that “there is a very big difference between a bot designed to provide therapeutic support in a medical and supervised setting, and a general AI that presents itself as an AI therapist.”

In this op-ed first published by the Toronto Star, Alegre says that “as AI chatbots are already being rolled out to support mental health services around the world, there is an urgent need for regulation and clear legal lines of liability around their use.”

“Consider the modern knowledge worker who relies on AI to draft emails, generate reports and analyze data. Each delegation seems rational — why spend time on routine tasks when AI can handle them more efficiently? Yet this efficiency comes at a hidden cost. The neural pathways that once fired when crafting persuasive arguments or synthesizing complex information begin to quiet. The brain, ever adaptive, reallocates resources away from underused functions.”

In this opinion, Cornelia C. Walther describes the problems surrounding agency decay: “a worrisome and largely invisible threat emerging in our AI-saturated world.” Recognizing it, she writes, is the first step toward addressing it: “For businesses, this means implementing AI systems that enhance rather than replace human judgment.…At the policy level, we need frameworks that preserve human agency and systematically invest in hybrid intelligence.”

In this opinion, Robert Diab scrutinizes Canada’s Strong Borders Act (Bill C-2), the first bill tabled by the new Liberal government, in early June. Beyond the new enforcement powers it grants, it has vastly expanded search powers unrelated to the border, a move criticized by opposition parties and privacy advocates, with one member of Parliament describing them as “a massive poison pill.”

Diab focuses on the “Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act,” a new statute within the bill that would grant police and intelligence agents direct access to personal data held by commercial third parties. Diab compares these powers with similar frameworks in Australia, Britain and the United States, to bring them into sharper relief and highlight the bill’s key shortcomings.