“Digital”, “virtual”, “real”, “physical” complementary components of the modern economy
This article describes the fundamental restructuring of the tools, methods, models, and institutional foundations of the functioning of socio-economic systems, which is taking place as a result of the integration of digital technologies into all spheres of modern society. The author regards the active use of the terms “digital”, “virtual”, and “real” economy is evidence of attention to the research of the processes taking place. At the same time, he notes that there are significant differences in the understanding of these concepts. The author seeks to examine the role and significance of some of them as key factors of economic development. As he points out, this leads to ignoring the complex socio-economic and technical-technological essence of the processes taking place in the modern economy under the influence of the introduction of digital technologies. The purpose of this work is to determine their place and role in forming a holistic view of transformations in the modern economy as a holistic system. The article focuses on analysing the impact of the introduction of digital technologies on the comprehensive transformation of economic systems. Attention is focused on the relationship between physical, digital, virtual and real components of the modern economy as complementary elements of a single process of socio-economic interaction. The methodological basis of the study is a systemic, structural, comparative, institutional analysis of the features of the impact of digitalisation on the transformation of technical and technological and socio-economic components of economic systems. The evolution of views on the impact of digitalisation and the transformation of key characteristics of economic systems is traced. The specifics of the “digital”, “virtual”, “real”, and “physical” elements of the modern economic system are presented. The author regards them as the constructive foundations of the modern economy, corresponding to its resource, technological, motivational, and social components. Their complementarity as integral parts of a single process of social reproduction within an economy based on digital technologies is substantiated.
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