Digital technological innovation has evolved into a new driver of economic growth, and digital technological advances have gone beyond linear constraints and have shown exponential growth. In view of this situation, there is an urgent need to establish and improve the system of standards of national economic accounting for the digital economy and to strengthen the socio-economic impact assessment of the digital economy。
With the development of a new generation of digital technologies, such as 5g, the industrial internet and the internet, and their application in industries, the world is entering the digital economy. New infrastructure, with digital technologies at its core, is becoming the focus of our new investment, which will accelerate the development of our digital economy. National accounts for the digital economy are an important reference for national and industrial development, and some countries and institutions around the globe have implemented specific accounting for the digital economy, but no harmonized accounting standards and methodologies have yet been developed. In order to better measure the service effects of the digital economy on the national economy, a system of standards and methods of national economic accounting for the digital economy should be established in a timely manner and adapted to our national circumstances。
Digital technology triggers new economic paradigms and accounting patterns
Digital technology has brought new factors of production, production patterns and new economic paradigms. The convergence of the digital economy with the economy, in particular the development of the internet and the internet, has led to the explosion of data, which has become a new factor of production. Digital technology innovation based on data has evolved into a new driver of economic growth, and digital technological advances have moved beyond linear constraints to an exponential growth pattern. Front-line technologies such as big data, physical networking, mobile internet, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, block chains and so on will contribute to future development. The digital transformation of traditional industries will be the main engine of the digital economy and, indeed, of the national economy as a whole. The pace of digitalization, networking and intellectual transformation of traditional industries has accelerated, and new technologies have significantly increased the efficiency of the whole factor, which has helped to accelerate the adaptation of traditional kinetic energy and promote the transformation of old and new energy。
As a result, digital technology will profoundly influence macro-microeconomic structures, organizational patterns and operating patterns, leading to new economic and social patterns. The contemporary economy and society are in the phase of a shift from the traditional paradigm of technology economy to that of digital economy driven by innovative applications of digital technology, which is a more advanced phase of economy after the agricultural and industrial economies。
Based on the reality that industrial boundaries are no longer clear, new national economic accounting modalities should be constructed in a timely manner. The digital economy consists of a combination of digital industrialization, which is the foundation of the digital economy, and industrial digitization, which is the central driver of industrial development. Digital industrialization is an industrial sector value added directly related to digital technology, for example, where the information and communication technology industry is able to adopt traditional GDP accounting methods. Digitalization of industry is at the heart of the digital economy, and the penetration and integration of digital technology into agriculture, industry and services will create new economic values. For example, digital technology in our country has developed a better industrial ecological chain in areas such as community services, health management services, old-age services and family services, partially subdivided into areas such as the community o2o market, which has surpassed hundreds of billions of yuan; the industrial internet, the internet and the internet are increasing the intellectualization of our industrial production and the competitiveness of our products; and digital technology has also contributed to the development of intelligent agriculture。
However, in the face of the new economic model, accounting for the digital economy is also facing new problems, as it is the value added by the increase in the efficiency of traditional industries, resulting from permeability and synergy, and this part of GDP needs to be detached from the GDP of individual industries, and the digital economy is reflected in the production of products, rather than in the final product, which cannot be accomplished by traditional accounting statistics. Therefore, accounting methods should be drawn from the value-creating content of the digital economy, with emphasis on reflecting the value of digital technology for technological innovation in traditional industries。
Further optimization of digital economic accounting theory and methodology
Accounting for GDP in the digital industry requires clear accounting ranges, and accounting for GDP in the digital industry needs to reflect the value of technological innovation. The main industries involved in the digital industry are the information industry, which includes, inter alia, the manufacturing of electronic information equipment, the sale and leasing of electronic information equipment, electronic information transmission services, computer services and software, other information-related services, and emerging industries resulting from the widespread penetration of digital technology. Its GDP accounting method is a direct aggregate based on the added value of the various industries in the sna。
The digitalization of industry is reflected in its contribution to technological progress, which is reflected in the following: one is a significant reduction in the cost of operating the economy, as evidenced by a significant reduction in the cost of accessing information; a significant reduction in the cost of matching resources, opening up two spaces on the line, significantly reducing the cost of identifying resources, contracting, monitoring implementation and addressing information asymmetries among the main entities; a significant reduction in the cost of dedicated capital; and an effective reduction in institutional transaction costs. The second is a significant improvement in the efficiency of economic performance. This is reflected in the deepening of the division of industrial specialization; the upgrading of inter-firm production synergies; and the matching of supply and demand with support。
It is therefore necessary to further optimize accounting theories and methods for the digital economy based on production patterns and efficiency contributions. The contribution of the digital economy is reflected in the process of production, from factors of production to output, which is generally portrayed in the economics theory by a production function. As a new production model, the digital economy will demand more improvements in traditional production functions。
First, the digital economy requires moving beyond the limitations of the original production functions, such as land, labour, capital, and the introduction of numbers as new factors of production. Accounting for the contribution of digital factors is an important element of accounting for the digital economy。
Second, the digital economy has changed the structure of capital, labour inputs and the meaning of capital in the digital economy. Digital economic development needs to rely on infrastructure inputs from the ict sector, so capital in the factors of production also needs to identify ict and non-ict capital and calculate output contribution rates for different capital。
The efficiency and cost savings associated with digital technology will lead to significant increases in total factor productivity, and it is crucial to identify the contribution of digital technology in overall factor productivity growth. Accounting for the dynamic growth of the digital economy should be based on the theoretical model of economic growth, which could be used to introduce production functions under the digital economy system, which would be achieved in terms of investment-capital factor dynamics to the growth mechanism。
Scientific construction of the system of national economic accounting for the digital economy
The first was the need to establish a standard system of national economic accounting for the digital economy. There are currently different agencies that measure the value added of our digital economy, and accounting results vary widely due to the lack of uniform accounting standards. It is recommended that standards of national economic accounting for the digital economy be established, statistical work on the digital economy be regulated and that the digital economy be included in the system of national economic accounting (sna)。
Second, a multi-dimensional assessment of accounting methodologies based on the sna should be established. The national GDP accounting system includes production, income and expenditure methods, which are based on the production perspective, the income distribution perspective and the final consumption of products and services. The three approaches complement each other, with the theoretical results of the three accounting methods being the same, while accounting from multiple angles can also be effective in judging and controlling errors in data accounting. It is therefore proposed to establish a digital economy accounting method based on the expenditure and income methods, which would be an important complement to the national economic accounting of the digital economy and would also provide a basis for miscalculation and control of the aggregate volume of the digital economy, in addition to the system of accounting for production methods。
Thirdly, socio-economic impact assessments of the digital economy should be strengthened. Currently, accounting for the impact of the digital economy is of interest to many countries or institutions. On the basis of digital economic accounting, we should also focus on accounting for the socio-economic impact of the digital economy and serve our socio-economic governance. It is recommended to strengthen accounting based on the indirect impact of industrial chain linkages on the digital economy. For example, the development of an industrial internet-based intelligent manufacturing industry has implications for animal-flowing, research and development, and information and communications industries. In addition, in view of the heightened employment pressures in the country, it is recommended to strengthen the employment impact analysis for the development of the digital economy. Liu chang xin, wu jing, wang xiaoming
