New Economic and Social Frontiers Shaping the New Economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The report examines the socio-economic disruptions caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, focusing on the inadequacy of current economic metrics, increasing market concentration by digital platforms, labour market displacement, and the need for updated social protection systems. It proposes a range of multidisciplinary responses, including the adoption of new intangible asset metrics, the use of distributed ledger technology to lower market entry barriers, proactive reskilling strategies, and the exploration of universal basic income and portable benefits to ensure a more inclusive and secure social contract.

• Traditional economic metrics like GDP fail to capture the value of the digital economy because they exclude free digital services, struggle to account for new intangible assets such as algorithms and raw data, and often miss the consumer surplus generated by higher quality and lower online prices.
• Digital platforms are driving increased market concentration through network effects and data-driven lock-in, where the value of a service increases as more users join, making it harder for new entrants to compete.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution is causing a 'great decoupling' between productivity and wages, particularly affecting low- and middle-skilled workers in advanced economies, while threatening the manufacturing-led development model in emerging markets.
• Job displacement is significant, with estimates suggesting 75 million jobs may be displaced in 20 key economies between 2018 and 2022, though this may be offset by the creation of 133 million new roles adapted to humans, machines, and algorithms.
• To maintain employment, a massive reskilling effort is required, as it is estimated that 54% of all employees will need significant re- and upskilling by 2022.
• Existing social protection systems tied to formal employment are becoming inadequate for the rise of gig work and independent contracting, leading to proposals for portable benefits and universal basic income.
• Proposed solutions to reduce market concentration include using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to create shareable data pools and initiatives like 'Solid' to return data control to individuals.
• New taxation models are being explored to fund social contracts, including digital services taxes on sales rather than profits and the concept of a 'virtual permanent establishment' for companies with a significant digital presence.

APA

World Economic Forum (2019). New Economic and Social Frontiers Shaping the New Economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Dialogue_Series_on_New_Economic_and_Social_Frontiers.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. New Economic and Social Frontiers Shaping the New Economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Dialogue_Series_on_New_Economic_and_Social_Frontiers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=New Economic and Social Frontiers Shaping the New Economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution |date=January 2019 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Dialogue_Series_on_New_Economic_and_Social_Frontiers.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2019new, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{New Economic and Social Frontiers Shaping the New Economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Dialogue_Series_on_New_Economic_and_Social_Frontiers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }