Social Sciences in China, 2024

Vol. 45, No. 1, 2024

A Theory of Digital Economy Development: An Examination of the

Practice of Chinese Platforms

(Abstract)

Huang Yanghua

Grasping the development trends and patterns of the digital economy and promoting the integrated development of the digital and the real economy is a strategic choice for China’s construction of new competitive advantages. Based on case studies of the growth of e-commerce, this paper develops five microeconomic propositions about the following issues: the microeconomic features of data factor that differ from traditional production factors; optimal decision-making for digital enterprises; “data + platform” architecture, data transaction governance, and digital infrastructure supply. We apply these theoretical propositions to enterprise innovative practices in different application scenarios such as driverless vehicles and manufacturing digitalization. This paper provides a systematic and consistent theoretical framework for analyzing platform business model innovation and accurately identifying issues of institutional construction that promote the integrated development of the digital and the real economy.

Keywords: digital economy, data factor, data transactions, data governance system, real economy