On the Cusp of Change: Trade and Development in the Age of Data

33 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2020 Last revised: 7 Feb 2020

See all articles by Dan Ciuriak

Dan Ciuriak

Ciuriak Consulting Inc.; Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); C.D. Howe Institute; Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada; BKP Development Research & Consulting GmbH

Date Written: December 23, 2019

Abstract

The dawn of a new economic era based on a new essential capital asset and new general purpose technologies provides a unifying framework to make sense of the rupture of the rules-based trading system, the flaring conflicts within states, and the eruption of a trade and technology war between states, which appear to mark the end of the long post-WWII era of globalization under American hegemony. The data-driven economy that is being shaped by the digital transformation differs in numerous ways from the industrial and knowledge-based economy which preceded it. There is no historical analogue for an economy built on an essential asset with the configuration of characteristics of data. This meas that governance innovation will be required to find a sustainable and stable “solution space”. Different societies will have different social preferences, which point to the need for new institutional interfaces at the international level.

Keywords: Digital Transformation, WTO, Rents, China, United States, Technology War, Developing Countries, Egypt

JEL Classification: F13, F52, F55, F63, L40, L52, O30, K21, K24

Suggested Citation

Ciuriak, Dan, On the Cusp of Change: Trade and Development in the Age of Data (December 23, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3513387 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3513387

Dan Ciuriak (Contact Author)

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