The Digital Economy and the New Social Contract

“The Digital Revolution and the New Social Contract” is a multiannual research project of the Center of the Governance of Change at IE University composed of four work packages addressing the impact of technology and digital developments on existing social structures. This report analyzes the key findings of the eight papers published within the first work package of the project focused on the digital economy. The papers aim to analyze the social impact of the digital economy and the resulting power relations and start drawing preliminary conclusions on how the social contract needs to evolve to respond to the new reality. The papers are multidisciplinary and diverse in their conception.1 They combine the analyses of senior and more junior academics from top research centers in the field, such as the Fletcher School at Tufts University, the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London, and the Centre for Digital Governance at the Hertie School, with those of practitioners from the Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI), think tankers from CEPS and the Elcano Royal Institute, and activists from Apadrinaunolivo.org and Asociación por la Resiliencia del Alto Mijares (ARAM). All authors have a proven trajectory in the areas of the digital economy they covered, and their perspectives provide policymakers with useful insights, and concrete policy recommendations, that enable a better understanding of the socioeconomic consequences that the digital economy is generating, and how to address them.