Digitalization, Quality of Life and Purchasing Power

Abstract

The World Economic Forum stated that while digitalization caused a rapid productivity growth, it has also had its disadvantages. Can digitalization be the catalyst of economic development? Our hypothesis contributes to the debate that the higher the level of digital development in a given country, the greater the quality of life and purchasing power it can achieve due to the benefits of various digital technologies. In our research, we investigated the relationship between the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), the Quality of Life Index (QLI) and the Purchasing Power Index (PPI) among the EU countries from 2014 to 2019. We acquired datasets from Eurostat and Numbeo and examined correlations between indices. We found a strong positive relationship between the level of digitalization, the quality of life, and the purchasing power.