Abstract:

As a foundational and strategic resource, data possesses unique natural and economic attributes. Its role as a key driver of digital economic development lies not only in its ability to continuously enhance productivity, but also in its intrinsic role in fostering the development of new quality productive forces, the reshaping economic structures, and the modernization of governance capabilities. However, the full realization of data's utility value must be built on the scientific measurement of its value and the effective establishment of trading mechanisms--both of which pose urgent demands for the construction of a robust data factor market. This paper provides a systematic economic analysis of the basic attributes, value formation, and market construction of data as a factor of production. First, it elucidates the formation logic of data's economic characteristics from the perspective of its natural attributes. Second, drawing on Marx's labor theory of value, it systematically examines the processes of value creation and value transfer related to data. Third,it analyzes the key challenges in building a data factor market in terms of data ownership clarification, data circulation, data transactions, and data governance, and offers policy recommendations for advancing a data factor system with Chinese characteristics. Finally, it explores the broader significance of establishing a discipline of data economics within the framework of developing an independent Chinese economic knowledge system.

Key words:

 , data, data factors, data value, data factor market, data economics