ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes new regional strategies to drive digital scale economies and regional e-commerce. It reviews the impact of digitization on growth and trade. The chapter analyzes the state of digitization in different world regions and the extent of digital flows within different regions. It argues that regional action can be a critical complement to national and multilateral measures. The purpose of the chapter is to propose ways for countries to overcome these obstacles through regional action with their neighbors. Digitization drives economic growth and productivity in a number of ways: directly, through the production of Information and Communications Technologies (ITC) goods and services; and indirectly, through the reorganization of the ways goods and services are created and distributed as well as through employment gains in digital industries and new digital applications that help consumers and companies cut costs, establish their business, and engage in trade. Measure of the digitization of the world economy is e-commerce.
