Digital economy becomes the stabilizer of global development

      At present, general purpose technologies represented by new generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, Internet of things, blockchain and 5g are deeply integrated with the real economy, promoting the rapid development of global digital economy, driving profound changes in traditional production methods and industrial structure, and accelerating the formation of emerging industries. Digital economy has become a key force to restructure global factor resources, reshape global economic structure and change global competition pattern. As an important force in the global digital economy, in November 2021, China officially applied to join the digital economy partnership agreement (depa) and actively connected with the global digital economic and trade rules. This decision is not only in line with China's direction of further deepening domestic reform and expanding high-level opening to the outside world, but also helps China strengthen cooperation in the field of digital economy and promote innovation and sustainable development with all parties under the new development pattern.

Zong Liang, a researcher at the Bank of China Research Institute, believes that with the continuous promotion of digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the continuous development of emerging industries led by digital technology, the degree of digitization of the global economy continues to deepen, and the digital economy, as a new economic form, has become an important engine to promote economic growth.

Digital economy mainly injects kinetic energy into economic growth from these aspects. First, the development of digital economy drives the improvement of total factor productivity. With the gradual reduction of the contribution rate of traditional factor supply such as labor force to economic growth, digital economy has become an important way to improve total factor productivity. The action mechanism of digital economy on total factor productivity includes macro and micro levels. At the macro level, economic digital transformation can improve capital and labor productivity, reduce transaction costs and promote the country's integration into the global market system. At the micro level, the deep application of digital technology can improve the competitiveness and performance of enterprises.

Secondly, the development of digital economy promotes the optimization of resource allocation efficiency. The deep integration of digital technology and real economy provides support for the digitization of real economy and promotes the gradual construction of cyberspace presenting the real world in the form of digitization. The internal mechanism of cyberspace is the space-time integration of production system, natural system and living system. Through rapid information dissemination, all subjects in economic activities are highly connected, which greatly improves the ability of resource penetration, integration and coordination in the economic system, so as to reduce the cost of market transaction and resource allocation, and continuously promote and optimize the reorganization and aggregation of resources.

In addition, the data elements generated by the digital economy further promote the improvement of total factor productivity and resource allocation efficiency. As a key factor of production in digital economy, data overcomes the resource endowment constraints and diminishing marginal productivity constraints of traditional factors of production. On the one hand, the organic combination of data and other production factors such as capital and labor into production, distribution, circulation and consumption can effectively change the investment mode of traditional factors and optimize the efficiency of factor allocation. On the other hand, data elements have a wide range of applications and high permeability. Through the investment and application in all walks of life and all production links, we can change the input mode and structure of traditional economic activities, drive the industrial structure to change to information intensive, knowledge intensive and technology intensive, and promote the improvement of total factor productivity. In addition, the digital economy will also drive economic development from many aspects, such as innovating business models, promoting entrepreneurship and promoting the upgrading of industrial structure.

At present, as an important engine to promote economic growth, digital economy plays an increasingly important role in global economic development. The role of digital economy in economic development has become increasingly prominent. In 2020, the added value of digital economy in 47 countries and regions in the world will reach US $32.6 trillion, a year-on-year nominal increase of 3%; The proportion of digital economy added value in GDP increased to 43.7% from 40.3% in 2018. According to the prediction of Internet Data Center (IDC), by 2023, the output value of digital economy will account for 62% of global GDP, and the world will enter the era of digital economy. Further, the rapid growth of the digital economy has provided new support for the global economic recovery during the period of COVID-19. By novel coronavirus pneumonia, the global economy in 2020 has a negative growth, and the global GDP average growth rate is -3.6%. The global digital economy still maintained steady development, with an average growth rate of 3.0%. As the epidemic continues to spread around the world, the normalization of the epidemic will become an important obstacle to the development of the global economy in the future. The digital economy can make an important contribution to promoting the recovery and development of the world economy and will become a stabilizer to deal with the downward pressure on the global economy.