Call for papers: “Economic development in times of digital transformation”

The Thematic Dossier “Economic development in times of digital transformation” is proposed by Revista EPTIC, in partnership with the Professional Postgraduate Program in Economics at the Federal University of Sergipe (PROPEC-UFS), to which the magazine is also linked. Texts must be sent by August 5th. The purpose of this dossier is to promote discussions about the emergence of intense and comprehensive digital transformation in the contemporary economy, which puts the debate on the national project in new terms, in relation to economic, cultural and environmental aspects, among others. The dossier is organized by professor Dr. Denisia Araujo das Chagas and professors Dr. Ricardo Lacerda de Melo and Dr. César Ricardo Siqueira Bolaño, all from PROPEC-UFS. On the topic, issues such as the emblematic case of Chinese development and the potential contained in the Health Economic-Industrial Complex (CEIS) program, developed by a wide network of Brazilian researchers, stand out. In rich countries, industrial policy has resumed with force. It is a central element in the Biden government's American Jobs Plan, and has motivated important initiatives among OECD countries, which recently sought to outline the terms of the debate with the construction of a theoretical and practical reference for the industrial policies of member countries. . For the OECD, the debate on industrial policy has returned in both academic and political circles: “the argument for governments to play a strategic and coordinating role in the business sector is gaining strength in OECD countries, in response to major shocks, such as the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the current COVID-19 pandemic and long-term trends, for example, globalization and slowing productivity, digital transformation and climate change.” (Criscuolo et al., 2022, p. 4). Such issues permeate all economies today, but must be considered taking into account local particularities, avoiding the homogenization that the idea of ​​development brought about in the past. Reflection on digital transformation and its impacts on the job market in Brazil must be thought of in terms of addressing urgent social problems and promoting socioeconomic alternatives for the country. Therefore, it cannot be avoided from the debate on industrialization and the prospects for building a sovereign, supportive, inclusive and sustainable nation, more balanced in social and regional terms, taking into account the new challenges posed by the environmental crisis and the digitalization of economy. Regarding digitalization, it is essential to distinguish between networks and platforms, derived from the microelectronic and IT revolution, and the companies that currently dominate the internet economy. When a laboratory joins a vaccine platform, it becomes part of a knowledge production network, in which its researchers form the "collective worker", Marx's term, seeking solutions to public health problems. This is the organization of networking through platforms, and not necessarily profit-driven platform companies. In the first case, it concerns the development of productive forces; in the second, production relations, divided between capital-labor and market (Bolaño, 2023). However, these processes are currently closely related, hence why it is not possible to postulate a certain technological neutrality. The development of productive forces has been shaped by production relations that shape technologies according to capitalist interests. The challenge is, therefore, to formulate new technologies in association with a new societal project. This means, for example, facing the data capture model for the expansion of commodification and social control and also changing the pattern of permanent connectivity, which has reinforced the exploration of minerals with lithium, generating conflicts in countries and communities that have reserves, such as Bolivia, and increased energy demand. The internet and digital platforms unify the control of work and society, creating common mechanisms for business management and surveillance. In Brazil, regulation must restore workers' defense mechanisms, destroyed during the neoliberal period, especially after the 2016 coup. Considering the new production processes mediated by platforms, it is complex to identify the interests of freelance workers exploited by platforms like Uber and those of salaried workers on so-called industrial platforms, all belonging to the "class that lives off work" (Ricardo Antunes, 2007).

We are experiencing a complex process of general platformization of the economy, which cannot be regulated in isolation from economic, social and environmental policy. The regulation of platforms must be integrated into a national project that recovers the historical achievements of the working class and confronts the concentration of production in the cultural-communication sector. In this sense, it is essential to discuss the contours of a sovereign policy in this sector, as well as actions that, concretely, can lead to the reduction of dependence and technological inequality, while also respecting technodiversity. Economic regulation in Brazil must be subordinated to a project different from the current liberal approach that accepts the monopolistic condition of large platforms. The mobilization of national intelligence and science, technology and innovation policies are essential to achieving cultural autonomy and overcoming dependence.