Vol. 54 No. 2 (2026): Published June 30, 2025
DOI https://doi.org/10.18799/26584956/2026/2/2096
Methodological problems of Data Economics
Relevance. The emergence of data economics as a new scientific discipline (data economics) and its key role in the context of the implementation of the Russian national project "Data Economics and Digital Transformation of the State". The formation of a national data management system as a strategic development resource requires adequate scientific and methodological support. Exponential growth of data volumes and technological possibilities of their processing outstrip the development of the theoretical apparatus for their comprehension, creating significant risks for achieving the strategic goals of technological leadership. Aim. To systematize the key methodological problems of data economics as a science, as well as to identify their normative and ethical foundations. Methods. Interdisciplinary synthesis, comparative analysis are used to identify contradictions between traditional economic theories and the nature of data, as well as philosophical reflection to assess the normative foundations of the discipline. Result. A number of fundamental problems have been identified and described. The ontological problem lies in the fact that data, being an inexhaustible, immaterial and uncompetitive good, does not fit into traditional economic categories, which calls into question the applicability of classical theories of value, pricing and property rights. The epistemological challenge is manifested in the dominance of inductive methods of data analysis, which leads to a crisis of "black boxes", the substitution of cause-and-effect analysis with correlations and systematic errors in data. The normative and ethical problem is revealed through the prism of the logic of "supervisory capitalism", where data becomes a means of human instrumentalization, which contradicts the Kantian categorical imperative, which considers a person as an end, not a means. It is proved that overcoming the methodological crisis of the data economy requires not so much technical improvements or new techniques as a deep philosophical and methodological rethinking of the foundations of economics in the information and digital age. It is necessary to move from attempts to adapt old concepts to building a new paradigm based on an interdisciplinary synthesis of economics, computer science, sociology and philosophy, which is a prerequisite for the formation of an effective national data policy and the preservation of human autonomy.
For citation: Kvasha N.V. Methodological problems of Data Economics. Journal of Wellbeing Technologies, 2026, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 71−81. https://doi.org/10.18799/26584956/2026/2/2096
Keywords:
data economics, data ontology, causality and correlation, nonrival, immateriality, behavioral excess
References:
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