Digital Goods and Digital Commodities

Abstract

Topicality. The digitalization process of all spheres of the economic life of society is gaining a greater scope. The concept of the commodity as the main category of commodity production was also affected by digitalization: some old products gained a digital form, but new products appeared as well that did not exist at all before the start of the digitalization process. Therefore, the study of these new phenomena becomes especially relevant.Aim and tasks. To substantiate the definition of digital commodities from the perspective of the economic science methodology. Develop a classification of digital commodities based on their durability.Materials and Methods. The paper offers a conceptual view of the digital commodities, studying their essence and features from the fundamental economic science perspective. The paper uses scientific developments of classical and marginalist economic theory of such concepts as “commodities” and “goods”.Research results. The paper proposes to separate information, information good, digital good, and digital commodity concepts. Information is something that can be encoded in the form of a bitstring. Information good is useful information, information that has a use-value and a form that allows this information to be consumed. A digital good is an information good that exists in the form of a bitstring. A digital commodity is a digital good that has a price. The paper considers the characteristics of digital goods, whether they have the same properties public goods have and can be treated as such as researchers argued it. Digital goods can be treated as public goods only if all the copies of digital goods are treated as the same digital good, which is incorrect. The paper elaborates on durability criteria for classifying digital commodities as the ability to preserve an exchange-value.Conclusion. The paper defines information, information goods, digital goods and digital commodities. Arguments are offered that digital goods are not public goods. The differences between digital goods and digital commodities are determined, and the classification of digital commodities according to the durability criterion is proposed.