The Global Digital Economy

For every person who reads this text on the printed page, many more will read it on a computer screen or mobile device. It’s a situation that we increasingly take for granted in our digital era, and while it is indicative of the novelty of twenty-first-century capitalism, it is also the key to understanding its driving force: the relentless impulse to commodify our lives in every aspect. Ursula Huws ties together disparate economic, cultural, and political phenomena of the last few decades to form a provocative narrative about the shape of the global capitalist economy at present. She examines the way that advanced information and communications technology has opened up new fields of capital accumulation: in culture and the arts, in the privatization of public services, and in the commodification of human sociality by way of mobile devices and social networking. These trends are in turn accompanied by the dramatic restructuring of work arrangements, opening the way for new contradictions and new forms of labor solidarity and struggle around the planet. Labor in the Global Digital Economy is a forceful critique of our dizzying contemporary moment, one that goes beyond notions of mere connectedness or free-flowing information to illuminate the entrenched mechanisms of exploitation and control at the core of capitalism.

Investigations of what increasing digital connectivity and the digitalization of the economy mean for people and places at the world's economic margins. Within the last decade, more than one billion people became new Internet users. Once, digital connectivity was confined to economically prosperous parts of the world; now Internet users make up a majority of the world's population. In this book, contributors from a range of disciplines and locations investigate the impact of increased digital connectivity on people and places at the world's economic margins. Does the advent of a digitalized economy mean that those in economic peripheries can transcend spatial, organizational, social, and political constraints—or do digital tools and techniques tend to reinforce existing inequalities? The contributors present a diverse set of case studies, reporting on digitalization in countries ranging from Chile to Kenya to the Philippines, and develop a broad range of theoretical positions. They consider, among other things, data-driven disintermediation, women's economic empowerment and gendered power relations, digital humanitarianism and philanthropic capitalism, the spread of innovation hubs, and two cases of the reversal of core and periphery in digital innovation. Contributors Niels Beerepoot, Ryan Burns, Jenna Burrell, Julie Yujie Chen, Peter Dannenberg, Uwe Deichmann, Jonathan Donner, Christopher Foster, Mark Graham, Nicolas Friederici, Hernan Galperin, Catrihel Greppi, Anita Gurumurthy, Isis Hjorth, Lilly Irani, Molly Jackman, Calestous Juma, Dorothea Kleine, Madlen Krone, Vili Lehdonvirta, Chris Locke, Silvia Masiero, Hannah McCarrick,Deepak K. Mishra, Bitange Ndemo, Jorien Oprins, Elisa Oreglia, Stefan Ouma, Robert Pepper, Jack Linchuan Qiu, Julian Stenmanns, Tim Unwin, Julia Verne, Timothy Waema

Note: this is an abridged version of the original book with references removed. The complete edition is also available. This book explores the intersection of public policy and the fast changing digital media economy. Over the last 20 years, digital technologies and digital content have revolutionized many aspects of social, economic and political life around the world. Governments, locked into the policies and programs of the traditional economy, are struggling to respond to this dynamic and commercially unique global ecosystem. This study examines the nature and extent of the digital economy, looking at both the commercial diversity within the sector and the different digital implementations across the world. While the digital engagement of North America is well known, the scale and intensity of digital growth in East Asia is not fully understood not are the transformative changes occurring in parts of Africa. The digital world is marked by the unexpected and rapid re-orientation of economic, social, cultural and political affairs. The digitization of work, for example, has already brought major disruptions within national economies. Governments are struggling to respond, in part because of pressures from the traditional industrial and resource sectors but also because of the unique, somewhat anarchistic nature of the digital content industry. The Global Digital Economy provides a profile of the global digital environment, reviews current government digital policies (with an emphasis on innovative strategies), and offers policy suggestions for national and subnational governments. Countries that respond creatively to the digital economy--like Taiwan, South Korea, Finland and Israel--stand to prosper from the anticipated accelerated growth of the sector. Those nations that struggle to keep pace with the digital infrastructure needs of the new economy and with the potential for employment and business creation stand to fall behind economically. This book provides a policy roadmap for the digital economy and identifies the risks and opportunities of this core sector in the twenty-first-century economy.

Looks at how the Internet is affecting businesses, education, and government, touching on the twelve themes of the new economy and privacy issues

This book explores the intersection of public policy and the fast changing digital media economy. Over the last 20 years, digital technologies and digital content have revolutionized many aspects of social, economic and political life around the world. Governments, locked into the policies and programs of the traditional economy, are struggling to respond to this dynamic and commercially unique global ecosystem. This study examines the nature and extent of the digital economy, looking at both the commercial diversity within the sector and the different digital implementations across the world. While the digital engagement of North America is well known, the scale and intensity of digital growth in East Asia is not fully understood not are the transformative changes occurring in parts of Africa. The digital world is marked by the unexpected and rapid re-orientation of economic, social, cultural and political affairs. The digitization of work, for example, has already brought major disruptions within national economies. Governments are struggling to respond, in part because of pressures from the traditional industrial and resource sectors but also because of the unique, somewhat anarchistic nature of the digital content industry. The Global Digital Economy provides a profile of the global digital environment, reviews current government digital policies (with an emphasis on innovative strategies), and offers policy suggestions for national and subnational governments. Countries that respond creatively to the digital economy--like Taiwan, South Korea, Finland and Israel--stand to prosper from the anticipated accelerated growth of the sector. Those nations that struggle to keep pace with the digital infrastructure needs of the new economy and with the potential for employment and business creation stand to fall behind economically. This book provides a policy roadmap for the digital economy and identifies the risks and opportunities of this core sector in the twenty-first-century economy.

Annotation Digital Economy provides information about the socioeconomic aspects of the digital economy. This set of eighteen essays covers the effects of digital economy on business transactions, technology and culture, as well as on education. It also covers various aspects of global production, trade, and investment and the effects of the Internet.

This volume presents contributions that analyse the extraordinary impact of digital technology on business, services, and the production of value in many sectors of the economy. At the heart of this book is the fact that the entire digital economy is now worth almost 6% of global GDP, and it continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. The volume covers the general debate on taxation and the digital economy with the chapters by Russo, Makiyama and Boccia, before completing the analysis with discussion of three national case studies covering the U.S. (Pagano), U.K. (Leonardi) and Italy (Boccia and Leonardi). Contributors are leading experts in the fields of taxation and the digital economy and contextualise the key issues surrounding the digitalisation of the economy from an international perspective.

Digital technologies maintain an important tool in today’s business economy. As the economy continues to change, businesses seek out solutions in order to enhance and develop their organization. Business Innovation, Development, and Advancement in the Digital Economy highlights the competitive advantages on the emerging digital economy. Bringing together the classic economy theory and the developments of new technology, this book provides research on current innovations in the digital economy. It is vital resource for practitioners, researchers as well as graduate and undergraduate students.