J: Digital Economy
Digital technologies are contributing to radical, growing and unpredictable transformations of economic life, raising a broad range of new issues for scholars of the economy. This research network is dedicated to the study of these issues. We are particularly interested in the impact of these developments on market processes and actors, on goods themselves, on non-market forms of economy, and on wider social outcomes.
In the area of market processes we encourage discussion, for example, of intermediaries and business models such as the platform economy, coordination instruments such as participatory evaluation systems, digital reputations, the massive collection of consumer data, virtual and alternative currencies, bots, algorithms, new kinds of digital objects and forms of qualification and calculation.
Digital technology can also provide a platform for non-market forms of economy, and we welcome contributions on digital forms of gift and participative economy as well as the use of digital platforms for governmental initiatives and services.
Ultimately we are interested in the impact of such developments on wider social outcomes, including inequality, inclusion and exclusion on the basis of gender, class, race, ethnicity and geopolitical region, governance capacities, systemic risk, environmental change, and political engagement with economic issues.