It’s easy to take for granted the economic and societal value we derive from digital services. But make no mistake: If they disappeared, it would cost us a pretty penny.

The Digital Advantage: How Digital Services Boost Consumer Welfare

When a country increases the number of people and businesses using the Internet and boosts speeds by one percent each, it exports 0.8 percent more goods, benefiting households and industries, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: When a Country Increases Internet Subscriptions and Speeds by 1 Percent Each, Its Exports Increase by 0.8 Percent

Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis updated a recent paper on the digital economy to include more precise data, and it expanded the observed period to cover the years 1997 through 2017. In doing so, it found that the digital economy grew 9.9 percent annually over this 20-year period—4.3 times faster than the overall economy—and represented 6.9 percent of U.S. GDP as of 2017.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Grew 4.3 Times Faster than the U.S. Economy Overall from 1997 to 2017

The rise of the Internet has allowed billions of people to access services that would not exist otherwise, while driving the growth of technologies that power them. A new study has attempted to quantify this effect, examining the rate of Internet usage across 76 countries between 1995 and 2016.

Fact of the Week: The Internet Increased the Global Economic Growth Rate by 0.7 Percentage Points Between 1995 and 2016

Gross output, the market value of all goods and services produced by an industry, is a good metric to assess sheer volume of production as well as a means of comparison between industries.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Produced Has Produced a Real Growth Rate in the United States of 3.8 Percent Since 2019

A recent working paper finds that increasing Internet coverage from 0 to 50 percent in home countries increases the subjective well-being of immigrants.

Fact of the Week: Improving Internet Access Positively Affects the Health and Well-Being of First-Generation Immigrants

The digital economy accounted for 9.6 percent of US GDP in 2019, or $2.05 trillion.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Accounted for 9.6 Percent of GDP in 2019

Between 2006 and 2016, the U.S. economy grew at an anemic rate of 1.4 percent, due in large part to the 2007-09 recession. But new statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis highlight a bright spot, providing evidence that an outsized portion of overall growth has come from the digital economy, which grew at 5.2 percent annually.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Grew by 67 Percent Between 2006 and 2016

The Census Bureau significantly expanded data gathering about the digital economy in 2017, for the first time including the service sector. It has now released 2018 data, identifying $8.3 trillion in e-commerce revenue, up $633 billion from 2017.

Fact of the Week: Digital Goods Have Increased Total Consumer Welfare Across 13 Nations by Over $2.5 Trillion

Related

The Digital Advantage: How Digital Services Boost Consumer Welfare

Fact of the Week: When a Country Increases Internet Subscriptions and Speeds by 1 Percent Each, Its Exports Increase by 0.8 Percent

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Grew 4.3 Times Faster than the U.S. Economy Overall from 1997 to 2017