The DIGITAL ECONOMY consists of all the transactions carried out over digital infrastructure or using digital technologies, including e-commerce. In fact, anything with an “e-” in front of it is part of the digital economy. It’s not just Facebook and Amazon, but even traditional companies that are part of the digital economy.
The FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION represents the shift in business to an increasingly digital form of operations.
Swedish company Assa Abloy was a traditional firm making locks. As you would expect, that put it in competition with other locksmith firms. But we hear on the latest episode of A Dictionary of Finance from Liisa Raasakka, a European Investment Bank loan officer, that the company is expanding into digital technology, creating competition with all kinds of other businesses.
This is one of the ways the digital economy is changing how business is done. Liisa and Harald Gruber, who heads the EIB’s digital economy division, debate these changes in an episode that ranges from the boardrooms of Europe (like Nordic media giant Bonnier) to the dorm rooms of Harvard (Facebook).
Liisa notes that bankers must now figure out how to assess loans to companies whose assets are in “intangibles,” like software. Meanwhile Harald gets excited about the opportunities for mobile banking in Africa, where “fintech” makes banking—and economic opportunity—available to people in areas previously unreachable by traditional companies.
We also delve into some acronyms from Liisa’s curriculum vitae:
The EBRD is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a multilateral development bank focused on former Eastern bloc countries.
The NIB is the Nordic Investment Bank. It’s an international financial institution founded by the Nordic countries (tweet us if you can tell us ALL the Nordic countries—it’s a bit of a trick question!) and joined a decade ago by the Baltic states (tweet us if you know which those are—Allar will be impressed as he’s from one of them.)
The IFC is the International Finance Corp. It’s part of the World Bank Group and aims to encourage private sector investment in development.
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