Measuring digital economic gaps in the business sector of the regional economy

V. Yakimova and S. Khmura
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V. Yakimova: Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
S. Khmura: Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia

Journal of the New Economic Association, 2023, vol. 61, issue 4, 70-92

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of measuring digital economic gaps, which are formed with the heterogeneity of the territorial distribution of capital and digital industries. To determine digital gaps, an author's methodology is proposed, based on a list of aggregated and private indicators characterizing the sphere of production, consumption of digital technologies by the business sector, providing the region with invested, infrastructural, human capital. Methods for estimating distances of cluster analysis were used as tools. To measure digital economic gaps, the methodology was tested on the example of 87 regions of Russia and a grouping was carried out, distributing regions by type: digital development leaders, developing, promising regions, underdeveloped and recipient regions. It was established that the largest inter-cluster gaps are observed in the leader (Moscow) from the rest of the regional clusters of digitalization of the business sector. The greatest impact on the unbalanced territorial development of the digital economy is the uneven formation of human capital for the digital economy and the scale of digital production. The reasons for the differences in the use of the opportunities of the digital economy lie in the different specialization of the business sector of the region and the available digital technologies for implementation in production and services. Developing and promising regions have a great advantage in the presence of technology parks and special economic zones, which widely attract highly qualified personnel and concentrate digital products highly appreciated in Russia. The results obtained can be used to develop support programs for lagging and promising regions, mechanisms for reducing economic gaps and a balanced distribution of capital throughout the country to accelerate digitalization processes.

Keywords: digital economic gaps; digital capital; index of digital development of the business sector of the region; digital production; digital capital intensity; digital transformations; center-periphery model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 O33 R12 R13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nea:journl:y:2023:i:61:p:70-92

DOI: 10.31737/22212264_2023_4_70-92

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