Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes that the market supply and demand rules change faster than the people and the government adapt. In the world we live in, more and more products are “invisible”, i.e. software and other digital content that are invisible.

August 18th news, according to the technology website Fast Company, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (Bill Gates), believes that the market supply and demand rules change faster than the speed of adaptation of the people and the government; in the world we live in, more and more products are "invisible", that is, software and other digital content that cannot be touched.

Intangible products are very different from physical products, and the latter is relied on when we establish basic economic theory. For example, once developers pay the upfront cost of developing a software, they only need to make as many replicas as possible based on market demand, and the cost of replicas is almost zero. According to Gates' example, for a more traditional physical type product like a car, the cost of a "replica" is at least equivalent to the raw material needed to make each product.

Recently, Gates published an article on social networking platform LinkedIn, commenting on the new book "Capitalism Without Capital" written by economists Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake, and outlined the difference between intangible products and physical products.

Gates wrote: "This book emphasizes to me that officials need to adjust their economic decisions to reflect these new reality. For example, the tools used by many countries to measure intangible assets are behind the times, so their understanding of the economy is not comprehensive." He pointed out that it was not until 1999 that the United States began to join the output value of the software industry when calculating GDP (GDP). Meanwhile, Haskell and Westlake pointed out in their new book that the number of "intangible" products that contributed to the economy began to rise around 1994, a trend that accelerated in the 21st century. "Even today, the U.S. does not include investments in market research, branding and training when calculating GDP, and these intangible assets are purchased by companies at a huge cost." How to accurately measure the scale of the economy is only a question. Gates said some other traditional views should be reconsidered. For example:

? Should a set of rules different from physical products be used to grant patents and trademarks of intangible products?

? Should intangible products be taxed in a different way than physical products?

? Should competition in the intangible product market have different definitions?

, of course, the concept of "intangible assets" is not new. Gates and the author of the book suggest that governments must speed up their actions in order to better regulate the economy where “intangible” products dominate.