Deeply understand and grasp the basic characteristics of the digital economy

Source: Hebei Daily

Original title: In-depth understanding and grasp of the basic characteristics of the digital economy

The development of the digital economy is a strategic choice to grasp the new round of scientific and technological revolution and new opportunities for industrial transformation, which is related to the overall situation of national development. To do a good job in all aspects of the digital economy, it is necessary to deeply understand and grasp the concept of the digital economy and its connotation and extension, and clarify the basic characteristics of the digital economy. The national "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Digital Economy" points out that the digital economy is the main economic form after the agricultural economy and the industrial economy, with data resources as the key element, modern information network as the main carrier, information and communication technology integration and application, and digital transformation of all factors as an important driving force to promote a new economic form with fairness and efficiency as a more unified new economic form. To accurately understand and grasp the basic characteristics of the digital economy, it is necessary to grasp several key words in the definition of the digital economy.

New Economic Form: Clarify the historical positioning of the development of the digital economy

The digital economy is defined as a new economic form after the agricultural economy and the industrial economy, which profoundly reveals the historical positioning of the development of the digital economy and reflects the in-depth understanding and high understanding of the digital economy. First, the digital economy has pushed the development of productivity into a new stage. The scientific and technological revolution led by digital technology has a profound and extensive impact on the mode of economic growth, changes in economic structure and economic operation rules, digital technology is becoming a common technology in all walks of life, and the digital economy is becoming a key force in reorganizing global factor resources, reshaping the global economic structure, and changing the global competitive landscape. Whoever can grasp the historic opportunity of the development of the digital economy will grasp the leading power and initiative of the future economic development. Second, major advances in productive forces have led to changes in the relations of production. The in-depth development of the digital economy has promoted the closer integration of people and production factors, the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and the coupling of material and digital, and the digital economy is reshaping production relations. Third, the changes brought about by the development of the digital economy are all-round. As a new economic form, the digital economy not only includes the economic basic part, but also includes the superstructure part such as digital government and digital society construction. The digital economy has the characteristics of high innovation, strong penetration and wide coverage, which can promote the digital transformation of the economy and society from sporadic, partial and phased to overall, comprehensive and systematic.

Data resources become a key element: identifying the core engines of the digital economy

The factors of production are ever-evolving historical categories whose importance changes with the shape of the economy. The key production factors in the agricultural era are land and labor, and the key production factors in the industrial age are capital and technology. With the progress and maturity of digital technology, data has penetrated into all aspects of global economic development all the time and continuously, and its status and role have undergone profound changes, becoming a factor of production juxtaposed with labor, capital, land, knowledge, technology and management, and gradually becoming a key element in the era of digital economy. On the one hand, the characteristics of data can be copied, flowable, connected, and easy to apply, which play an amplifying, superimposing and multiplying role in economic development, greatly improving production efficiency, and becoming the most characteristic production factor of the times. On the other hand, as data elements become the core engine of the development of the digital economy, data becomes a basic resource and strategic resource, and the comparative advantages between countries and regions have gradually changed from traditional capital and labor to data-related infrastructure construction, technological development, talent reserves and applications, which has led to major changes in the international competition pattern and economic spatial layout.

Converged applications: Demonstrate the important characteristics of the development of the digital economy

From the very beginning of its development, the digital economy has shown its unique charm through the integration of digital technology and the real economy. First, the digital economy promotes the cross-border integration of software and hardware. The application boundaries of new infrastructure such as 5G, satellite communications, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things are blurred with the application boundaries of common technologies in emerging industries, and hardware and software technologies are highly correlated and interactive. Second, the digital economy promotes cross-border integration of industries. The development of new models and new formats such as e-commerce and the digital transformation of the industry have promoted the deep integration of the three industries with the industrial Internet and related services, thereby breaking the boundaries between the three industries. Third, the digital economy promotes cross-border integration between levels and departments. Digital technology developments are helping to drive flattening between vertical hierarchies and integration across horizontal sectors. Fourth, the cross-border integration of public goods and private products. Data has linked more and more companies and regulatory agencies, blurring the boundaries between some public and private products.

All-Factor Digital Transformation: Point out the key path of digital economy development

The factors of production are a necessary condition for organizing social production. Promoting the development of the digital economy inevitably requires the promotion of digital transformation of factors, and realizing the digital transformation of factors is an important means to promote the development of the digital economy. First, the scope of digital transformation is all the elements. Factors of production such as labor, capital, and technology, as well as their supply methods and production organization methods, should all be transformed in the direction of digitalization. For example, finance realizes digital payment, applies digital currency, builds unmanned counters, and forms an online bank, so that digital technology is widely used in all aspects of finance. Labor market configuration, transaction training, etc. rely more on online platforms, and intelligent robots partially replace human labor. Second, the process of digital transformation is a whole chain and a whole link. The application of production factors and the organization of the production process are moving towards digital twins, which can not only project the real world one-on-one to the virtual world, but also realize the virtual world through simulation deduction. Third, digital transformation emphasizes improving total factor productivity. Starting from technological progress and optimization of the allocation of production factors, we will improve the production efficiency of all factors and promote the high-quality development of the economy.

Aligning Fairness and Efficiency: Clarifying the Goals of Promoting the Development of the Digital Economy

Fairness and efficiency are dialectically unified. On the one hand, they are consistent, efficiency is the material premise and basis of fairness, and fairness is the guarantee of efficiency. On the other hand, they are contradictory, with an overemphasis on efficiency that undermines fairness and an overemphasis on fairness that undermines efficiency. The development of the digital economy has built a new type of sharing and cooperative relationship, promoted the organization platform, resource sharing and equalization of public services, spawned new formats and models such as the sharing economy, changed the traditional commodity exchange method, improved the optimal allocation level of resources, and provided new means and new methods for promoting the unification of fairness and efficiency.

(Hui Jian, the author is vice chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Hebei Provincial People's Congress and director of the Financial and Economic Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress)

Editor-in-Charge: Queen