The digital, quaternary or 4.0 web economy: Aspects, effects and implications

The world economy is changing dynamically with the expansion of information technology (IT). The change is not only happening at the technology industry level itself; other industries are also being disrupted with the appearance of smart factories, autonomous cars, smart e-commerce, and the like. This paper preliminarily analyses the economic effects and concrete aspects of the quaternary economy, the knowledge-based part of the economy, which typically includes services such as information technology, information generation and sharing, media, research and development, as well as knowledge-based services. First, it analyses the economic effect of the quaternary economy on the USA, UK, and Israel in addition to the technological base of the quaternary such as Internet of Everything and financialisation effects. Second, it investigates the concrete aspects of the quaternary economy in five main areas including interactive or crossover innovation in artificial intelligence, appearance of cybersecurity from firewalls to cyber warfare, precision agriculture and smart farming, smart grid, electric vehicles and pilotless planes, and precision medicine. Third, the paper discusses the governance of the quaternary economy along with thin globalisation and relevant regulatory issues of the digital culture of our time.