Political Room for Manoeuvre to Make Optimum Use of the Opportunities Offered by Digitisation for Economic Growth, Employment and Prosperity. Synthesis
Digital technologies fundamentally question existing market mechanisms, economic policy instruments, structures as well as economic and social interactions. While in traditional markets the prices of goods and services have the central allocation function, the connection between price and value in the data-driven economy is largely dissolved. The reason for this lies in the specific cost structure, which is characterised by high fixed costs and extremely low marginal costs (close to zero). This cost structure favours the monetary (almost) free scaling of digital products and services on "platform markets". In the digital economy, the power to dispose of data is the decisive competitive factor. In extreme cases, (natural) monopolies result. On the basis of six thematic analyses (macroeconomics, public sector, competition, space, social security, environment and energy), the findings are condensed into three meta-hypotheses that define the scope of action for optimal use of the advantages of digitisation for economic growth, employment and prosperity. The "new" economy determined by digital data, which entails structural breaks and manifests itself in extremes, requires political design in order to be able to sustainably secure prosperity and employment.