Digitalization of the Economy in the Context of the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: An Overview of Key Expert Reports in 2019

Abstract

This review examines the key 2019 expert reports on the digitalization of the global economy in the context of the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Noting the beneficial overall impact of digitalization on the implementation of the key SDGs in relation to reduced poverty and misery, and increased social equality and ecological balance, the authors of the reports focus on the challenges that digitalization poses. Among the most important are: the threat of increasing social inequality as a result of the new international division of labour, the hyper-concentration of the digital market, the growing digital inequality, the threat to information security, and the weakening of the regulatory capacity of the state. The authors of the reports note that digitalization is a controversial process that can both help to achieve the SDGs and unwittingly hinder their implementation. In order for digitalization to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, targeted and coordinated intergovernmental policy involving national and business stakeholders is important.