The theoretical basis of the digital economy in the strategic planning documents

The Chelyabinsk State University, Department of Economics of Industries and Markets, Chelyabinsk, Russia

^* Corresponding author: dyachenko@csu.ru

Abstract

The article analyzes the definitions of the concept "digital economy". The study considers the strategic planning documents of the different states, dedicated to the project of digital economy, as the object of investigation. The subject of research is the interpretation of the category "digital economy". The theoretical and methodological issues in the study of the digital economy are considered. The paper makes an attempt to substantiate the problems that will follow in the implementation of the strategy under the conditions of a weak methodological basis for describing the existing techno-economic picture of the world. Among such problems, we emphasize the lack of attention to the production relations in the presented interpretations. We consider that building a digital economy, as a high-tech production ecosystem, will not do without understanding the essence of a new type of production relations. Without this understanding, it will be problematic to build the institutional basis of the digital economy and to create a regulatory framework to control emerging relationships in the digital economy. The paper critically analyzes the existing interpretations of the digital economy, presented in the strategic planning documents, and reveals the author's understanding of the studied category.