ECONOMIC MEASUREMENTS OF SOCIAL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS: WHERE DOES ROMANIA STAND AT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

Sustainable economic development, no matter the geographical area it is applied to, relates to improving living standards and incorporates a new focus and challenge for the economy: the measurement of intangible and social assets. This article aims to present Romania’s ranking among other countries. First of all, it analyses the rationale for measuring social aspects, in the context of the emrging new economy. The essential point here is that investing in intangibles produces more welfare on long term and improves labour productivity, creating a more competitive and knowledge based economy and society. Secondly, several indices are presented and the ranking for Romania is analysed, in order to provide a systematic view and debate upon the importance of social and intangible assets and their ways of measurement at a country level. We consider that our study's results are just a starting point for possible future theoretical and empirical investigations. This paper seeks to develop in Romania a framework of understanding the value of social and intangible assets and their importance for sustainable development. We appreciate that such a study could be a quite useful approach for both the academic and business communities in our country.