Regional digital economy: Assessment of development levels

Abstract

A model of a composite index of the development level digital economy of regions in various sizes is proposed. It is based on a functional network as a kind of directed graph, structured by levels based on the principles of hierarchy, modularity and balance, as well as the availability of data on the development of the digital economy. The scalar value of the required quantity was determined by means of additive convolution. The influence of the subjective factor was excluded by moving away from the expert determination of weighing measures of particular indicators (which are included in the composite index) and using a calculation based on the standard deviation. The proposed approach was tested in the framework of identifying the differentiation of the development level digital economy of regions in Russia, as well as comparing European and Russian practices.