Introduction

This chapter examines the question of what changes are being brought about by digital technology and what consequences this has for the economy and society. Its particular focus is on the challenges for economic policy. The chapter briefly presents the key questions and the corresponding analytical focus of the book. It then explains the extent to which the central principles of the market economy, as formulated by Walter Eucken, can be used as a heuristic access structure in order to better understand the challenges which digitalisation poses for economic policy and in how far this determines the chapter structure.