Expenditure On The Digital Economy: What Is It And How To Measure It?

This paper describes an approach to measuring the gross domestic expenditures on the development of the digital economy. International attempts to define the digital economy and research expenditures on it are considered. As part of the methodology’s development, key definitions were presented: digital economy, digital technologies, and digital economy costs. Based on international experience, as well as on the specifics of Russian statistics, a methodology of measurement for the expenditures on the digital economy was proposed. The structure of the obtained indicator is multidimensional, which makes it possible to evaluate both the indicator as a whole and its sections. The proposed methodology involved making modifications to existing questionnaires and the first estimates based on them were made in 2020. The results of the study made it possible to estimate the domestic expenditures on the development the digital economy in comparison with the set goals approved by the national program «Digital Economy of the Russian Federation». In addition, the multidimensionality of the indicator revealed those areas of the digital economy that represented the «growth points» of the digital economy as a whole.