Dear Colleagues,

Data from the Global Digital Economy Conference show that in the year 2021, the added value of the digital economy in 47 major countries in the worlds reached 38.1 trillion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%. In total, this accounted for 45% of the total GDP of these countries. It is more noteworthy that the scale of the digital economy in developed countries has reached 27.6 trillion US dollars, accounting for 72.5% of the total GDP in 47 countries. Meanwhile, the proportion of the digital economy in developed countries to GDP has reached 55.7%, far exceeding the level of 29.8% in reached developing countries.

At the same time, the development gap between different countries in the era of digital economy is increasing day by day. Developed countries have unique advantages in the use of advanced technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, Internet of things, big data, and block chain, further widening the development gap with developing countries. Hence, the phenomenon of the "Digital Divide" is getting worse.

In light of this, we are organizing this Special Issue to explore new issues and challenges to economic growth brought by the development of the global digital economy to different countries. We hope that the academic community can conduct an in-depth analysis routes via which countries can achieve their own economic development more effectively in the digital economy era, improve the welfare of their people, further narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, and achieve balanced development of the national economy. At the same time, this Special Issue will also focus on how economic policies in the traditional sense will be changed in the digital economy era, how different countries use various economic policies to promote the balanced development of the national economy, how developing countries narrow the development gap with developed countries in the era of digital economy, alongside discussions of other related issues.

Submissions for this Special Issue can discuss, but are not limited, to the following topics:

• Changes in the connotation of economic development in the digital economy era;
• How to use digital technology to promote economic development;
• How to narrow or even eliminate the "digital divide";
• New features of economic policy in the digital economy era;
• How developing countries can narrow the development gap with developed countries in the era of digital economy.

Dr. Weixin Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• digital economy
• economic development
• economic policy
• economic growth
• welfare
• digital technology