Influence of the level of development of the digital environment on the trend of gross domestic product in the countries of the European Union

¹ Higher School of Engineering and Economics, Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, building 29, Polytechnicheskaya street, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, 195251.
² Pushkin Leningrad State University, Saint Petersburg, building 10, Petersburg highway, Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, 196605.

^* Corresponding author: zajtsev.aa@spbstu.ru

Abstract

The paper characterizes the specifics of the impact of digitalization processes on such an indicator as GDP per capita: case study of the European Union countries. The literature dedicated to the matters of the relationship between digitalization and economic growth is reviewed. Based on the statistical data, a regression model is built to determine the dependencies between the GDP of European Union member countries and the economic digitalization indicators. An equation formed in the research can be used to demonstrate the dependence between GDP per capita and the accessibility of information and communications technology and its usage by organizations, households, and private persons in the territory of the European Union. According to the result obtained, the following possible options were formulated for the development of the European Union economies concerning digitalization: stimulating the introduction of information and communications technology in enterprises (including tax incentives for the firms involved in entrepreneurial digital development, as well as growing investments in the existing assets), households (increasing trust of the population in digital products; increasing human capital, which is highly demanded by the digital economy; prospects of the electronic postal trade system); focus on the export of high-tech products.