Data divide in digital trade, and its impacts on the digital economy: A literature review

The public sector, private firms, the business community, international trade organizations, international organizations, and civil society are generating, sharing, and utilizing big data that is high in volume, veracity, and velocity and comes from diverse sources. They pursue big data as "new oil" and adopt data-centric trade policies to promote a data-driven economy and to ensure the extensive application of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Data and information have long been vital elements of the digital economy. However, there is a disparity between advanced and developing countries' communities' ability to access, collect, integrate, store, analyze, and use data to create commercial value, promote digital economy, and resolve social and environmental challenges. From the above, the term 'data divide' emerges. Despite stakeholders' vast interest and efforts, the data divide is still a key concern and severely impacts developing countries' digital economies. In this study, through a systematic literature review, we identify problems regarding the data divide in digital trade and offer proposals to the stakeholders to tackle the data divide in digital trade through data policies and holistic trade regulatory frameworks. In this manner, we contribute to the ongoing discussion around the data divide in digital trade and its impacts on the digital economy.