ECONOMIC GROWTH MODEL: THE ROLE OF DIGITALIZATION

Abstract

Most publications justify that digitalization is a source of economic growth, to a greater extent in the countries with higher levels of economic development. However, some papers fail to find empirical evidence supporting this claim, attributing it to digitalization being in its initial stages or to the presence of the digitalization paradox. Economic literature exhibits a degree of ambiguity in its conclusions regarding the role of the digital economy in growth. Researchers employ different measures of digitalization, country and year samples, control variables in regression equation, as well as different regression methods, which can provoke ambiguous effects on the parameters of digital variables. The purpose of the article is to identify the role of digitalization in economic growth by justifying an economic growth model with the digitalization index and providing detailed discussions on our sample of countries over recent years, along with options for regression estimators. The article utilizes statistical data from the World Bank, European Commission, and Heritage Foundation. Methods such as system analysis, statistical analysis, and the regression estimator of panel data with fixed effects are implemented to identify the role of digitalization in economic growth. We have designed an economic growth model incorporating the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of EU member states for the years 2017-2022, utilizing available data. The results reveal a positive and significant causal effect of digitization on gross output growth. Specifically, a 1% increase in the digitalization index results in GDP growth of almost 0.2%. Moreover, we observe the important roles of capital, labor, trade, human capital, and intellectual property rights in driving growth, consistent with the theory of endogenous growth. Proving the importance of digitalization for economic growth can be an argument for policies aimed at promoting digitalization. We suggest further research on the role of digitalization at a more disaggregated level of industries. However, our study does not demonstrate a statistically significant effect of research activity and institutional quality on gross output. We have discussed possible reasons for this and propose further research in these areas.