Did you know that digitalization is the major vanguard of modernization? Then, follow me solemnly through this article as I present to you a catalogue of the reasons why.

Modernization theory holds that as nations, countries, and societies become more economically modernized, wealthier, and more educated, their political institutions become progressively liberal democratic. The "classical" theories of modernization from the 1950s and 1960s, most notably articulated by Seymour Lipset, drew on the sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Talcott Parsons.

Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences during the 1950s and 1960s and saw a resurgence after 1991 when Francis Fukuyama wrote about the end of the Cold War as corroboration of modernization theory.

The first principle of "Modernization Theory" is 'Digitalization,' which asserts that technological change is the pivotal driver of development. Technological modification, along with population growth, leads to more wealth. More wealth results in a larger middle class, and a larger middle class provides the social foundation for democracy.

After Mao Zedong exacerbated China’s economy by resorting to communism and leading the Chinese into economic hardship, Deng Xiaoping emerged to address this issue. He introduced a plan called the "Four Modernizations," focusing on four key areas of industrial modernization: science and technology (Digitalization), agriculture, and industry. Through this scheme, China’s struggling economy grew rapidly.

The rapid economic growth of China and the United States of America isn't because they have better institutions, leaders, or policies than us, but because of their propensity to prioritize 'digitalization' as the primary trajectory for sweeping and mounting economic advancement. Over the past decade, China’s digital economy has achieved significant milestones. According to research by a group at Peking University, the digital economy sector contributed significantly, with a 74.4% contribution to the country’s GDP growth from 2012 to 2018.

Furthermore, according to the 2022 China Internet Development Report, the scale of China’s digital economy peaked at 45.5 trillion Yuan in 2021, accounting for 39.8% of the GDP. All these underscore the pivotal role of the digital economy in China’s economic development.

The brisk digitization wave has given rise to a slew of emerging employment opportunities in China. In 2019 and 2020, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China (MOHRSS) initiated two sets of 29 new occupations, with over 75% of these directly related to the digital economy. Therefore, the digital economy has played a substantial role in accelerating the annual increase in residents’ income.

America is the global digital economy leader. The digital economy accounts for $3.70 trillion of gross output, $1.24 trillion in compensation, and over 18 million jobs. Digital trade facilitates more effective access to international markets for American small businesses, farmers, ranchers, service companies, and manufacturers, who rely on the global reach of a range of U.S. technology providers to succeed.

Between 2002 and 2016, the share of U.S. jobs requiring basic digital knowledge rose precipitously, mostly due to significant changes in the digital content of existing occupations. Workers of every stripe—from corporate finance officers to salespeople to utility workers and nurses—are now spending sizable portions of their workdays using tools that require digital skills.

In 2002, 56 percent of the jobs studied required minimal digital skills. Nearly 40 percent of jobs required medium digital skills, and just 5 percent required high digital proficiency. A lot has changed. By 2016, the share of jobs requiring high digital skills had jumped to 23 percent, while the share requiring medium digital skills soared to 48 percent in a hulking shift, the share of jobs requiring low digital skills descended from 56 to 30 percent.

Digitalization scores rocketed in 517 of 545 analyzed occupations from 2002 to 2016. At the same time, the degree and pace of change varied significantly. The average digitalization score across all occupations increased from a moderate level of 29 in 2002 to a medium level of 46 in 2016, a 57 percent upswing. Between 2010 and 2016, occupations with high-level digital scores registered more than 0.8 percent annual wage growth on average, compared to a middle-level annual wage increase of 0.3 percent, and annual wage declines of 0.2 percent for low-level occupations.

Congress has provided clear advice and ambitious negotiating objectives to guide the Administration in facilitating digital trade, enabling cross-border data flows, and recognizing the importance of the Internet in international trade. The NFTC is committed to advocating for an open, rules-based digital economy at home and abroad to support U.S. exports of well over $500 billion in digital services every year.

Digitalization provides a degree of protection for workers against task displacement through automation. While nearly 60 percent of tasks in low-digital occupations appear susceptible to automation, only around 30 percent of tasks in highly digital occupations appear liable to automation. Digitalization expedites development, aids economic growth, unites people from different territorial backgrounds, and enables better use of resources.

The European Investment Bank has vouched for Digitalization, such that, in 2021, their financing assisted in boosting new digital business models, connected 3.5 million households to fixed fibre and sanctioned 6.8 million subscriptions for 5G services. Last year, among others, the Bank secured financing for the digitalization of motorway infrastructure in Morocco and the augmentation of the national broadband in rural areas of Georgia.

Benoit Dennis, a senior economist on digital projects at the European Investment Bank evinced, "Digitalisation is the great leveller of opportunities”.
This is why, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia intends to transform Ghana into a digital economy in order to parallel with those well - economically planted countries _ let's incarnate his (Dr. Bawumia's) digitalization timber for unyielding economic opulence.

Digitalization scores rocketed in 517 of 545 analyzed occupations from 2002 to 2016. At the same time, the degree and pace of change varied significantly. The average digitalization score across all occupations increased from a moderate level of 29 in 2002 to a medium level of 46 in 2016, a 57 percent upswing. Between 2010 and 2016, occupations with high-level digital scores registered more than 0.8 percent annual wage growth on average, compared to a middle-level annual wage increase of 0.3 percent, and annual wage declines of 0.2 percent for low-level occupations.

Congress has provided clear advice and ambitious negotiating objectives to guide the Administration in facilitating digital trade, enabling cross-border data flows, and recognizing the importance of the Internet in international trade. The NFTC is committed to advocating for an open, rules-based digital economy at home and abroad to support U.S. exports of well over $500 billion in digital services every year.

Digitalization provides a degree of protection for workers against task displacement through automation. While nearly 60 percent of tasks in low-digital occupations appear susceptible to automation, only around 30 percent of tasks in highly digital occupations appear liable to automation. Digitalization expedites development, aids economic growth, unites people from different territorial backgrounds, and enables better use of resources.