Digitalization of the economy and its impact on economic development and social welfare

Abstract

Th e article is devoted to the problems of digitalization of the modern economy and its in fl u-ence on economic processes that determine economic growth and social welfare. It is noted that digitalization does not become a signi fi cant factor of economic growth and has a contra-dictory e ff ect on the growth and size of GDP; further development of the theoretical founda-tions of analysis and measurement of economic growth in the conditions of digitalization is required. Th e role and importance of process innovations in the conditions of digitalization are highlighted, the wide application of which may not lead to GDP growth. It is shown that the business in the fi eld of computer and information technologies, as well as the sharing business, based on the widespread use of Internet services and cloud technologies, is currently developing rapidly. It is noted that companies operating in the fi eld of network technologies o ft en do not have a very clearly de fi ned amount of material capital; their business is based on using existing or creating their own digital platforms located on the Internet; they o ft en do not own any signi fi cant material assets. For them, it is extremely di ffi cult to determine the amount of capital spent, and the useful result of such a business-processing and issuing information-does not have an unambiguous quantitative assessment. It is necessary to develop new forms of evaluating the useful results of this business. Sharing business, while in fl uencing the growth of individual welfare, can simultaneously lead to a reduction in public welfare, since it encour-ages the distributed use of existing items of shared consumption, rather than increasing their production. It is noted that for businesses that rely on Internet services, the management sys-tem is simpli fi ed, which is reduced to managing the creation, processing and redistribution of information, rather than creating new products and industries, which also inhibits economic growth. Th e processes of globalization and monopolization in the digital economy are ana-lyzed. Digitalization of the economy requires the development of economic theory, taking into account modern realities.