Abstract

　　Operating through digital platforms, the digital economy has flourished, becoming the core driver and new motive force of economic growth and demonstrating its advantages in terms of scale, effectiveness, and penetration. Nevertheless, the digital economy, as an important element in the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics, remains dominated by private capital, and this has caused many problems. The government of China proposes not only to prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, but also to use the role of capital as an important factor of production in the market economy and a means of subjecting capital to a system of “traffic lights.” In this context, the article starts out from the theoretical logic of the dual nature of capital and of the “tension” created by the inherent contradictions of digital capital and the practical logic of the “gravitational force” exerted by the mega-size of the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. The article then expounds on the historical inevitability of the emergence of digital public capital, and systematically sets out the compositional map of the pluralistic digital capital system dominated by digital public capital and developed together with digital non-public capital. Finally, and on this basis, it draws conclusions and makes policy recommendations.

　　From: World Review of Political Economy 2024 15 (1)

　　Editor: Wang Yi