By Chen Changsheng, Xu Wei & Li Chengjian, Department of Macroeconomic Research, DRC

Research Report, No.94, 2021 (Total 6159) 2021-4-22

Abstract: To quantitatively assess the concentration and main features of China’s current development of digital economy, this report has made analyses on 16 types of active apps based on big data in mobile communication. Research findings show that the data traffic, market occupation rate, registration of enterprises and revenue of platforms in the digital economy sector are concentrated. In view of analyses of 1,000 typical apps in China, the proportions of data traffic on “culture, sports and entertainment”, information services, e-commerce, and catering business in apps reached 88.01%, 5.83%, 3.10%, and 1.69%, respectively. The number of apps registered in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces accounted for 38.9%, 18.0%, 15.5% and 9.3% respectively. In this regard, it is necessary to understand the objectivity and regularity of the concentration of digital economy, which may widen the regional gap, aggravate the uneven distribution of tax sources, and make the supervision of platforms on cross-sector operation more difficult. Therefore, efforts are needed to develop the roadmap ahead of schedule to further promote the development of digital economy and launch adaptive reforms to properly cope with new challenges.

Keywords: digital economy, high concentration of apps, correct understanding, cope with properly