Politická ekonomie X:X | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1496

The Future of the Digital Economy: How Research and Development Can Address the Digital Divide Amid Resource Constraints

Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo ORCID...
Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo, Operational Research Center in Healthcare, Near East University, TRNC Mersin 10, Turkey,
University of Economics and Human Sciences, Warsaw, Poland,
Research Center of Development Economics, Azerbaijan. State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, Azerbaijan

The digital economy is unquestionably a globally recognized priority among nations, yet comprehensive scholarly discussions on the specific determinants driving its growth remain relatively limited. To fill this gap, this study pioneers an investigation into how research and development, natural resources, and economic policy uncertainty influence the digital economy in the United States, using data from 1996Q1 to 2020Q4. Given the nonlinear and non-normal distribution of the data, the study employed a series of quantile-based approaches, particularly the wavelet quantile-on-quantile regression (WQQR). The results from the WQQR reveal that research and development, globalization, economic growth, and economic policy uncertainty positively impact the digital economy, while the abundance of natural resources appears to hinder its growth. Based on these findings, policymakers in the United States should prioritize fostering innovation through R&D while addressing the challenges associated with natural resource dependence to drive the growth of the digital economy.

Keywords: Digital economy, research and development, natural resources; economic policy uncertainty

Received: July 24, 2024; Revised: November 26, 2024; Accepted: February 12, 2025; Prepublished online: November 12, 2025 

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