Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 2, 2023

A Microtheory of Digital Economy Based on Multiple Scenes and Its Application

(Abstract)

Huang Yanghua

A strategic choice for the modernization of China’s economic system and the revitalization of the country’s competitive advantage is to grasp the trends and laws of the digital economy and encourage the integration of the digital economy and the real economy. We first refined the major differences between data, as a novel factor of production, and conventional factors by conducting a case study on the growth of e-commerce. We then developed five microeconomic theoretical propositions concerning the decision-making of digital firms, the architecture of “data+platform,” the governance of digital transactions and the supply of digital infrastructure, and apply the theories to application scenes such as driverless cars and the digitalization of manufacturing together with firms’ innovative practice. This enables us to explore innovative business models in the digital economy and to drive the integrated development of the digital and the real economy at the institutional level. Strengthening research on the development of digital economic theory should rely on cross-application scene analysis with innovative firm practice; at the same time, the improvement of China’s digital governance structure requires distinguishing between shared global trends and China’s developmental realities, and thence providing the theoretical support that will improve the governance system of China’s digital economy.