Capitalizing Data in the Digital Economy: Canada’s Experience with Digital Supply‑Use Tables

The digital economy challenges traditional national accounts because free digital services and data assets are not fully captured in GDP. The OECD’s Digital Supply‑Use Tables (SUTs) offer a framework to measure digital industries, products, and transactions. Canada is one of the pioneers in implementing Digital SUTs. This paper examines how Canadian experimental estimates contribute to data capitalization, i.e., the valuation of data as a productive asset.

We analyze Statistics Canada’s Digital SUTs for 2017‑2019, which follow OECD guidelines. The methodology distinguishes digitally enabling industries, fee‑based intermediary platforms, data‑driven platforms (e.g., social media), e‑tailers, and firms dependent on intermediaries. Products include ICT goods, cloud computing, digital intermediary services, and free digital services. Data assets are valued using a cost‑based approach (labour, intermediate consumption, capital services) for in‑house production.

Canada’s digital industries accounted for about 5.5% of GDP in 2019. Experimental estimates of data investment range from 0.4% to 0.6% of GDP (2018), with an average annual growth of 3‑4%. The net stock of data assets reached CAD 105‑151 billion in 2018. However, free digital services (social media, search engines) remain outside the SNA production boundary, implying that consumer welfare benefits are still missing from official aggregates.

Canada’s Digital SUTs provide a replicable template for data capitalization. Cost‑based valuation is feasible, but cross‑country harmonization and better treatment of free services are needed. Future research should integrate machine‑learning‑based imputation for missing prices and extend satellite accounts for household‑produced digital leisure services. These findings support the reconstruction of economic valuation in the digital age.